The Night Knights
by SilverRaspBerry
Summary: In the country Fiore, there are 10% wizards & 90% normal humans that composes it. But, among this 10%, somehow, destiny brought a group of wizards together joining Blue Pegasus. It's also destiny for "him" to meet "her." Friendship blooms between 3 parties as the newbies stay. But at the same time, conflicts & debates arise. Read and find out why living their lives is complicated.
1. Prologue

**A/N: Hey there people! I'm SilverRaspBerry, an amateur author that dreams of writing a good story. I promise to do my best in every chapter in this series. I would just like to notify you guys about some words that are from another language besides English. I will always put some Author's Notes for the words' meanings. If you have suggestions, please feel free to tell me. HAVE A GOOD DAY EVERYONE~**

* * *

~Prologue~

It was a normal Monday for every person. People chatting, talking, minding their own business and doing their own job. No one cares for another's life; except if they are acquaintance that is..

On a single town, Blue Pegasus' Trimens strolls around. Wondering, not knowing what to do after they just finished their mission there.

Ren Akatsuki placed both his hands behind his head while walking. Eve Tearm looks down on the ground with a lifeless face. Hibiki Laytis crosses his arms across his chest. The three shows only one thing: they are bored.

Ichiya, their group leader, began to notice the depressing atmosphere. He, too, was bored and wanted to do something interesting. He stopped walking and started thinking in a deep thought.

Seeing their leader stop, Hibiki, Ren, and Eve stops as well, confused with their leader's actions. "Ahm, Ichiya-san?" Hibiki lowered his head. "What are you thinking about?"

"I was just thinking," Ichiya frowns. "We should do a little sightseeing!" His mood instantly changed in a blink of an eye. "To make things change for a little while, we don't we do our sightseeing separately. We'll meet up again here, on this spot. Hibiki, make sure you're safe or else we won't be able to contact each other via your Telepathy. Eve and Ren, make sure you keep yourselves out of trouble. We can't risk the guild's name to be stained. While I, too, do a little stroll.."

"Really?!" Eve exclaimed happily.

"Are you really letting us do it ourselves?" Ren adds with a big smile.

"Of course," Ichiya confidently answers.

"All right!" his students cheered in unison.

Ichiya turns and give them a warm smile. "What are you waiting for? Go out there and have fun with pretty girls!" Ichiya smilingly told the students.

* * *

While Hibiki Laytis walks on the west side of the town, he began to notice that he could rarely see girls anywhere. If he does see one, it's either she is with a guy or quickly passes by him. He begins to wonder the reason behind it.

While busy turning his head from left to right every 5 seconds of staring, he didn't notice that an average height girl, having a book opened wide, covering her face, was drawing close to him already.

The stranger wears a bright pink plain shirt, and white small suit jacket with pink folded collar. The long sleeves were folded, beforehand, up to her elbows. She also has denim shorts and knee-high black sneakers. Her hair appears to be aqua and long because she tied it using her cylinder gold metal hair tie. But the hair tie has an odd pattern.. It looks like old style of designing. As mentioned, the stranger has an average height and the same skin tone as Mirajane of Fairy Tail. She also seems small chested though. Even without looking at her face, one can really "tell" that she is **tsuyayaka.**

**"**Ah~ So that's why she's been acting strange lately!" she exclaimed and lowered the book below her chin. Her round, blue eyes sparkled in excitement. She appears to be wearing big black glasses.

When Hibiki heard the voice and looked straight ahead, it was too late. He bumped into her making a hard fall for both of them. The girl dropped her book causing it to close.

"Aw. That wasn't expected," she scratched her hair and grunted in pain.

Hibiki quickly stood up and came to the girl's aid. He reached for her hand. But she insist, "I can get up on my own." As she said, she stood up on her own and picked up her book. "I didn't looked where I was heading. My apologies."

"Oh no, it was also my fault for not noticing my way. If I was looking properly we wouldn't bump into each other. Please, no need for the apology," Hibiki, this time, insisted that the accident wasn't the stranger's whole fault at all.

For a moment, the girl paused and stared at Hibiki. Though he felt kinda awkward, Hibiki remained silent. She then introduced herself, "Euphilia. Euphilia Amane." she reached out her hand signaling that she wants a handshake. "Hibiki Laytis," Hibiki introduced himself back. After the exchange of names, Euphilia sadly informed Hibiki that she has to run to the train station before the train leaves for the next trip.

"In that case, I'll go with you," Hibiki politely proposed.

"Oh no. Please. I don't want to bother a gentleman while he is busy. Anyway I have friends that I must meet there. And expect me to be alone so, I don't think they'd be pleased if I'm with someone else," Euphilia quickly rebut. She bid goodbye to him and jogged her way to the train station on the north. Hibiki gladly waved goodbye to his new acquaintance. But, for the first time, he suddenly noticed that he never attempted to flirt with Euphilia. Something that made him think..

* * *

Eve, however, was taking his time walking in the south side of town. Just like Hibiki's observation, he rarely sees any girl at all.

Just then when he saw a single girl wearing green and white strips short sleeve shirt, black slacks and red ballerinas. She had her deep blue hair tied in a braid. Her fair skin glows as the sunlight hits her body. With her position facing sideways, from Eve's view, it was obvious that she had small chests. Her eyes are pretty violet.

The pretty girl was sitting on a table, by the window of a cute maid café. When Eve noticed that she was alone, eating strawberry cake, he instantly decided to join her even without her consent. When he entered the café, the bell that was hanged above the door rang. Being alert, the girl stared at the door, with fork still in her mouth, and saw Eve already behind the empty white chair, facing her.

"Mind if I join you?" Eve politely asked with politely with a smile.

"I don't mind," the stranger closed her eyes as she continues to eat her sweet cake.

Eve pulled the chair backwards and sat down, slowly. He signaled for the waiter and took his order of blueberry cake. Eve glanced at the girl, sitting with him, and noticed that she kept staring at the window with a bored look. "Ahm, excuse me," Eve broke the silence. "May I ask your name, miss? I'm Eve Tearm." This time, the girl stared at Eve and said that her name was Ayame Amane. Eve complimented that the name fits her well because of the style she wears. Ayame gently smiled at Eve and the two had a quick conversation.

Suddenly, Ayame looked at the clock, that was hanging in the middle of the walls and exclaimed with a slam on the table, "It's already 12:29!?" Eve paused and stared at her. "Sorry Eve, gotta run. I need to attend my appointment. See yah around!" Ayame said as she exits the café.

Eve suddenly thought of something.. He had a date with a new friend! But.. is it really considered a date?

* * *

About 20 minutes later, the Trimens gathered again in their said meeting spot. When Hibiki, Eve and Ren got there, their leader wasn't present. It made Ren ask Hibiki if he got any word from him. "Ah yes, I did," Hibiki gladly confirmed. "He said something about meeting up in the train station in the north, where he did his strolling." "Then why didn't you told us in the first place?" Ren narrowed his eyes.

"Well, Ichiya-san contacted me earlier. I was about to tell you two but I saw.."

"You saw..?"

"Ahm... Girls."

"Oh. But, you're so lucky. I almost ended up in a fight when I was strolling. Jeez that block-head."

"Block-head?" Eve gives his attention to Ren's story.

"Yeah. I stumbled across a guy who was running fast towards me. We kinda got a little argue on whose fault it was..." Ren continued his story while the three walks to the train station. He described the person for them. An average height guy with slightly tan skin tone. He was wearing a black checkered shirt, straight pants and black sneakers. He also said that the guy had red somewhat messy spiky hair. Some of his hair frames half of his face, up to his ears only. The edges were pointy and he had violet eyes. Ren continues the story. He said that the guy suddenly went running to north and yelled, "We'll settle this soon! You better never let your guard down!"

By the time the three pupils got to the train station, the train wasn't there anymore. Eve turned his head and immediately saw Ichiya sitting on a green bench. Ichiya had his eyes closed and hands crossed. He seemed to be waiting for the next train. Hibiki, Eve, and Ren quietly joined him and waited for the next train too.

* * *

"Jeez! I'm really going to get his butt kicked when I meet him! He almost got me late for this trip!" a guy furiously exclaimed while he sits on the running train.

"Oh don't get all worked up, Kaede. You might rampage," said the girl who was sitting on the opposite side. The girl appears to be Euphilia, the girl who Hibiki met while they were in the town! She had her legs crossed while reading the same book she was reading before.

"Looks like someone had a peaceful stay in town, nah Taiyoura?" Ayame Amane, the person next to Euphilia, sitting by the window, smirked. This time, her braided hair is no longer braided. She must have removed it beforehand earlier.

_Taiyoura!? Euphilia's name is Taiyoura?! But why did she lied about her name? And.. why is she friends with Ayame? Plus, is Kaede the person Ren was talking about in his story!? What could be the three's plot?_

_"_This trip will be a little longer then anticipated, huh?" Kaede placed his hand at the back of his head. "Especially that the next town we'll be visiting has a guild in it. Maybe we could join in? What do you think?"

"Well, I heard that the guild there is a famous one. The one they call Blue Pegasus," Ayame lifelessly replied.

"That's better then nothing, right?" Taiyoura/Euphilia lowered her book and warmly smiled..

* * *

**A/N: Tsuyayaka means pretty. =)**


	2. The Night Knights

**~Chapter 1 - The Night Knights~**

As they tap their shoes on the way to Master Bob's wine stall, the Trimens keeps their cool and stylish selves. As always, Ichiya walks in front of his three students with full pride being the guild's ace.

Suddenly, from their backs, Master Bob of Blue Pegasus jumped in and placed his arms in both Hibiki and Ren and smiled warmly. He was so happy that his smile reached until his ears! "Oh ho ho!" he giggled. "I'm so happy today!" He let go and then jumped up and down so happily.

"Well that's obvious," Ren stingy said after being released from a tight hold on his neck.

"Now now, don't be so grumpy Ren," Hibiki held his neck.

"Oh, I'm so sorry Ren-chan, but can you believe it!? Those three are finally here! After four days of waiting for new members, some are finally here!" Bob cheered up and down, expressing an even happier mood.

"Huh? Who do you mean? Who are those three guys anyway?" Eve took a step closer to Bob.

"I mean a notorious group that is composed of three people!"

"Yes, you just said three a while ago."

"Oh, I'm sorry. But I just can't stop saying three because this group is composed of a dragon slayer, a thunder sorceress and an Amaterasu user! Isn't that great!? Plus, what's more is that these people have a nice personality, just don't get on their bad side or else you'll experience horrible torture days.."

All three student gulped together. They got nervous upon hearing that the coming new members are going to torture them if they did something wrong. But, they did hear the word sorceress. That means a girl is part of them! There is a big possibility that the other 2 could be guys so they should be ready.. The nervous face they had turned into smiling faces with excitement.

"I knew you three would be happy!" Bob giggled. "They'll be coming here today, so we should be prepared for their arrival!"

Just then, the entrance door, behind them, slammed open hard! A panting member of Blue Pegasus was there, barely standing, uttering something. His clothes were soiled and so was his face.

"Oh my! What happened here!?" Bob helped the unnamed member to stand up properly.

"Trouble.. at the.. central square," he replied with his shaking voice.

"Ichiya! I want you and your team to go to the central square and find out what's the commotion all about! I'll catch up later after I give him some medical aid. Hurry!"

With the command, the Trimens rushed to the said place where a fight was possibly occurring. As they drew closer to the square, Eve, Ren and Hibiki begin to notice a huge crowd was gathered around the square. Also, blasts of fire and explosions were exploding! A fight was really happening!

The Trimens excused got through the crowd and finally got a better vision of the situation. To both Eve and Hibiki's surprise, the girls they met yesterday at the town was there, fighting! Also the guy that Ren told them about! "Who are those people!?" Ichiya furiously exclaimed, clenching a tight fist. The three, unknown people, were fighting with their physical powers. They were against a whole group composed of a lot of men and women. Also, there was no sign of them using any magic spells. But what's more intriguing was that they had no wound or damage at all! All they did was fight back to any attacks the enemy would send them. "Euphilia? Why is she here!?" Hibiki took a step closer.

When Euphilia Amane noticed that Hibiki was there, she quickly had to look away and fight the enemy.

"But why is.. Ayame here? What does this mean!?" Eve shuddered. He could not believe what he was seeing. At their first meeting, he thought that Ayame was a gentle girl. But, all he is seeing is the opposite. Ayame's eyes looks so fierce and her face was full of determination of beating her enemies.

"Why the hell is he here!?" Ren clenched his hands into fists. "Why the hell are you here!?" Ren charged in the red-haired guy with his right fist covered with Air magic. Quickly, his target dogged his attack by jumping backwards and landing safely in both his feet."Why the hell are you here, huh?!" Ren yelled at him. "Tch. This is no time for stupid talk!" red-haired guy yelled back. "Kaede, behind you!" Euphilia cried loudly. Kaede dashed to his left making an emergency doge.

Ren clenched to his fists tighter this time. But behind him, one of the many enemies was about to hit him with a big ax. Ren glanced back, seeing the ax speeds to hit his shoulder. Fortunately, Ayame kicks the head and sends the ax-holder flying. "Don't let your guard down!" she reminded Ren. Not thinking clearly what's happening, Ren just nodded instead.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a huge spiral of wind appeared in the center of all the commotion! Everyone, even the people who aren't wizard, stared in amusement and nervous. The air compressed and spread through the whole town, slowly by slowly. In the core of everything, Master Bob flaps both his wings. His face gives a frown and disappointed look. He sure doesn't like what he is seeing.. "Giving trouble on your first day? Now that doesn't sound so good, Night Knights," he landed on the soft ground. "Especially that you three are supposed to be showing- Never mind."

"Wait, you guys are the Night Knights!?" Hibiki exclaimed in astonishment.

"Yeah. What about it?" Euphilia turned to him. A single enemy tried to runaway from being close to her, but, she kicked him real hard and sent him flying. "Ops."

"But why didn't you tell me? You could have at least informed me that you and your team are coming here."

"Sorry about that, but my teammates and I are not confident around strangers and new friends, so, we cannot expose everything to them. Especially our real names."

"Real names?" Eve said. "So.. the name Ayame Amane is not your real name, Ayame?"

"Well no," Ayame closed her eyes. "Ayame is my code-name. But, my real name is-"

"Lenalee Tsuji, right?" Bob continued the sentence for her. "And as for Euphilia, her name is Taiyoura Tsuji and that red-haired cutie over there is named Kaede Kudo."

"Nice researching, Master," Kaede gladly smiled. "Oh by the way, what are we going to do with this dark guild guys here?"

"Dark guild!?" Ren turned to him and surprise.

"Huh? You mean he didn't tell you?"

"He did told me about it," Bob suddenly appeared behind Kaede, which crept Kaede off his skin and made him shuddered. "By the way, you really are my type of guy.." Bob smiles happily at the shaking Kaede.

* * *

At the guild house..

"Also, we should talk about the damage at the central square. We can't just leave it in its situation now. Especially that you, newcomers, did it," Bob laughed happily staring at cute Kaede. "But we really didn't use magic at the fight, just.. ugh," Kaede looked in circles.

Bob and the others, were sitting on his wine stall, talking about the commotion earlier and what should be done. Kaede was sitting on the right edge seat, and at his left side sits Lenalee and Taiyoura. For the Trimens, Hibiki is sitting next to Taiyoura, followed by Ren, Eve and Ichiya.

"Still, that doesn't erase that truth that you and your teammates did it. If you three could go on a mission, I guess we could repay that damages ASAP."

"We could take now right now," Taiyoura said energetically with a beam. She tried to assure the master that they could pay for the damages they caused quickly if they are sent to a mission right now.

"No no, you just came and you need rest," Bob insisted. "Besides, you still don't have a guild mark on you. You can start taking quests later or tomorrow once you have your marks imprinted. Anyway, Hibiki and the others will briefly explain to you the rules and regulations in the guild as you stay and rest for a while. Don't worry about the damage now and give yourselves a break.. After all, you deserve it.."

"Even if you say that we deserve it," Lenalee worriedly said with her face looking down. "We don't have a place to stay for the day. Plus, it's still noon."

"That's why you still need to rest, so that later, you could do a little sightseeing around town!"

"And if you need a place to stay, my place is always available!" Hibiki politely smiled at Taiyoura and Lenalee. "My place is also vacant!" Eve quickly offered his place as well. "I-It's not like I want you girls to stay at my house or anything," Ren, as usual, proposed in his little** tsundere **way. Now, the Trimens are surrounding the Night Knights, but of course, Kaede is out of the circle.

"Please, if you either don't want to get zapped or explode into billions of pieces, please stop flirting with the girls," Bob wiped the wine glass clean. "After all, Lenalee and Kaede are dating.. Plus, Taiyoura has allergy around playboys and one of them might sneak up you guys then finish you off in one blow. Remember what I said before..?"

Quickly, Hibiki, Eve, and Ren back-off the girls, just in case what Master said was true.

"And if you need a place to stay for the day, there is a small apartment. Small but enough for three people to live in, and it has a fine landlord. I'm sure you'll get along with him. He has exquisite taste for guests.."

* * *

**A/N: Tsundere is somehow like you're denying it though you are already saying it. Ren is a type of tsundere person. =)**


	3. A New Set of Surroundings

**~Chapter 2 - A New Set of Surroundings~**

The wheels on her aqua trolley rotates again and again every time she walks on the sidewalk of the street.. Taiyoura, along with her friends Lenalee and Kaede, searches for the apartment that Master Bobs recommended them. To be sure that his new members won't get lost along the way there, he was kind enough to write the address on a piece of torn paper from one of Taiyoura's notebooks. She leads the way while her teammates follow her from her back.

"Let's see," Taiyoura moves her head from left to right.. "Ah! Found it!"

They stood before a good-looking, green colored home. It had a small garden in front, planted with different kinds of flowers in a straight row. White painted fence and windows. There was an open aisle left for people to walk through, so that the plants won't be harmed. The door was painted white again. If you look up, you'll see a more windows, one at each side, and a wooden balcony between the windows. The roof was colored peach. A home that really seems like it's living in the season of spring, though it's already winter, January 15th of X785.

"This is a pretty place," Lenalee smiled.

"You said it!" Kaede agreed with a beam.

Taiyoura went ahead and knocked on the wooden door. She knocked three times and by the end of the 3rd knock, a tall average height woman opened the door. She was around her 30s and she had few wrinkles on her eyes. She has short, brown, wavy hair and fair skin tone. She wore a pink, plain shirt and cream long skirt. Since the woman was smiling, her eye color is not clear at all.

"Welcome!" she bowed before Taiyoura. "I'm glad to see you. Bob told us about incoming group of wizards so I had your rooms prepared and a jiffy, earlier." Her black, round eyes sparkled in joy.

"I'm sorry if I sound disrespectful but, I thought that it's a _landlord_ and not a _landlady_ that manages the apartment," Kaede half, raised his right hand.

"About that. My husband is away because of business reasons so he left the apartment to me for a month."

"That's quite long," Asami sadly said. She pulled her blue trolley closer to her.

"Oh dear, time runs fast when you're having fun, and I have fun having some youngsters around to watch and guard. We don't have an offspring so we treat our guests as one."

"I-I'm sorry to-"

"It's okay my dear. Anyway it wasn't your fault at all.. But, I have a question for you. Do you plan to stand there while rain clouds comes close?"

Taiyoura looked up and saw dark, thunder clouds above them. The current manager of the apartment allowed the Night Knights to come in and then proceeded to the kitchen.

Inside the place was a comfortable, traditional Japanese home. Japanese flooring,walls and ceiling. The floor was a feet raised from the ground. In the center of the room was a single staircase that leads to a higher floor. The room was divided into 2 parts: the kitchen on the left and the living room on the right. For the living room, it consisted of two identical, white, 3 seater sofas, facing each other. In the middle was a square, glass coffee table with 4 black stands. Behind the white sofa, on the left, was an abstract painting of yin and yang, hanging on the wall. Beside it was a cabinet full of books and reading materials. On the end of the right side of the room, hung a white window. While for the kitchen, it had a white dinning table consisted with white 6 chairs. Several, white wooden cabinets and a stoned cooking stove that forms the letter L, on the left side of the kitchen. It really is a comfortable place to live in!

Taiyoura, Kaede, and Lenalee stares at the room in amusement. Mouths slightly opened and eyes opened wide. "WOW," the three said in unison.

"Oh please, don't open your mouths that way, you might catch a mosquito with those open," the landlady laughed. "By the way, I haven't introduced myself properly have I? I'm Tsukiko. Tsukiko Takishima." She took out a picture from her apron and showed it to the guests. "And this is my husband, Minato Takishima."

Minato Takishima had a gentleman haircut on his brown hair, small mustache and an average height. His black eyes were delighted while taking the picture. He wore a formal suit and a magician's hat.

"Is he a magician?" Kaede pointed the magician hat.

"Oh no, he isn't," Tsukiko giggled. "A lot of people were fooled with this picture. He was just a regular human like me."

"I see. Oh! Pardon me, I'm Kaede Kudo. And these girls are Lenalee Amane and Taiyoura Amane. We're glad to be in your place." the three bowed together.

After an exchange of greetings, Tsukiko led the group to the higher floor. There they found a glass, sliding door leading to the balcony, and 5 more rooms. There are 3 rooms facing the guests once they set foot on the second floor and the other two on each side of the floor. Tsukiko explained that the 3 rooms are for them and that there are already bathrooms installed in each room. While the room on the left side is a library while on the right side is another guest room for when situations will call for it. She also added that if they have been to one certain apartment on Magnolia town, they would have the same bedroom design as the one there.

"Ah, well.. We haven't been in Magnolia yet," Taiyoura looked away, slightly.

Tsukiko giggled and said that it'll be a surprise then. She handed each of them a single key to a room. Taiyoura got the left room, Lenalee has the middle one while Kaede has the last one. Together, at the same time, they each opened the door to their assigned room. They all entered rooms that are identical! The bed is by the wall, below the white window. Located at the edge of the room. At the upper left, the door for the bathroom was closed. Upper right, a study desk made with wood, and has 3 small drawers on it's right side. In front of the bathroom's door, is a wooden closet, leaning on the left side wall of the room. And lastly, on the right side, leaning on the wall are 4 shelves meant for books and other reading materials.. Pink, floating hearts is the wallpapers.

But, that's not all.. Each room is different from the other... Taiyoura's room had a floral scent, Lenalee's smelled like lavender while Kaede's wallpaper was musical headphones. One by one, they checked each other's room and found out that the placement of the furniture are the same! They thanked Tsukiko many times and asked about their rent fee..

"We'll talk about that later, but for now, since it's getting late for lunch, I'll cook up something for everyone's delight," she assured them with a beam.

"THANK YOU VERY MUCH, TSUKIKO-SAN!" the three smiled happily. Tsukiko left the three with a beam.

The three settled their things in the proper areas and did different things. Taiyoura removed her big, black grade-less glasses and took out the last object that was on her trolley, a sketch pad. The blue butterfly decorated sketch pad had 80 leaves and is kept together with a white spring. Taiyoura flipped the pages and came to a clear, blank page. She took out a pencil from her shorts' pocket and started sketching some designs. As for Lenalee, she arranged her closet according to color. First are the primary colors then the secondary then the tertiary colors and then random colors. _"I cannot take the risk of having a visitor while my closet isn't arranged!" _she desperately thought to herself. While Kaede changed into a new set of clothing. A red and white stripped t-shirt, gray cargo pants and the same pair of sneakers he wore earlier. He looked outside and saw snow falling. "So it's already snowing.. Guess I'd better tell the others about this. But wait, nah! I'm sure they could see this one," he walked out of his room and gently closed the door.

Kaede walked downstairs and his pair of red round eyes saw the table all set for lunch. What was prepared was a hot, creamy macaroni soup. 3 round, green plates were placed, along with utensils and glasses. When Kaede went closer to check out the delicious-looking he spotted a note near a plate. Curious on what's inside the little thing, he unfolded it and read it with his eyes. It was a letter from Tsukiko.

_"Taiyoura, Lenalee and Kaede, I'm sorry if I'm no longer around when you read this message. I have some errands to do and some personal matters to solve. I have the food and the table ready for our lunch and if you're still wondering about the rent fee, it's 100,000.00 jewel for all three of you. With respect, Tsukiko," _is what was inside the letter.

"Too bad we won't be having her to come and join us for lunch," Taiyoura said from Kaede's right shoulder.

"S-Since when were you there?!" Kaede exclaimed.

"A little earlier.."

"But hey, this cooking tastes good," Lenalee sips creamy soup with her spoon.

"HEY!" Kaede yelled.

Lenalee glared at him, darkly. Then, after an eye to eye moment of the two, Lenalee calmly said, "I guess we should hurry up an adapt in this town. We're going to have new surroundings."

"Well thank you Ms. Captain Obvious," Kaede sat down next to her.

"Kaede, don't be so grumpy with your girlfriend," Taiyoura teased the two as she sitts down on the other side of Lenalee. Lenalee and Kaede both exclaimed, on Taiyoura's face, that they are not a couple. But Taiyoura teased them again and said that they are just denying the simple yet romantic truth. Then arguments filled the air..


	4. Interesting to Observe

**~Chapter 3 - Interesting to Observe~****  
**

Sitting with legs crossed, focusing their minds on the many documents they're holding, Hibiki, Ren and Eve does a little digging on Taiyoura Tsuji's profile. The three, earlier, were told by Master Bob to do the research while he and Ichiya have a little chit chat about the new three. It's a direct order so none of them can refuse... The three students sits on the long, gold edged, black L shaped sofa on the 2nd floor of their guild house, the same room where Karen Lilica abused Aries. Each decided not to sit so close to each other so gain more fresh air.. Hibiki was on the very edge of the sofa, front view, left side. Eve was on the right while Ren sits in the middle. They scan each file carefully and slowly, so that they won't misread and misunderstood any information..

"Damn! These are some long documents!" Ren complained and scratched his black hair. "How many details do we have to read!?"

"Mind if I put it in a nutshell?" a female voice, calmly said out of nowhere.

"Oh that would be a big hel-" Ren turned his head, with a smile. But the smile broke when he got to stare at the holder of the sudden voice. It was Taiyoura Tsuji, the one whom Bob told the three to do research on! "Ah-ah-ah, T-T-Taiyoura.. Haha, what a pleasant surprise. H-How's it going for you three?" Ren nervously stood up and greeted the girl. He threw the documents he possessed back to the sofa.

"D-Do you have something t-to talk about this afternoon?" Eve nervously, too, added, with a shaking voice. He stood beside the shaking Air Magic user.

Taiyoura crossed her arms. She is wearing a white Korean style, long sleeve, double-breasted, woolen coat. It has 6, gold buttons closing the coat and 2 more buttons creating a stand collar. The coat has a hood attached to it. 2 zippered pockets on both sides. "You don't have to hide the idea of gathering information about me," she narrowed her eyes.

Both Ren and Eve sighed. "Jeez, I was planning to read their secrets and hint them that we know about it," Ren murmured to Eve. "Now it can't be done with her around.. Bummer."

"I can hear you!" Taiyoura's angered voice automatically made Ren and Eve stand still, stiff. "I need one answer. Who gave you guys to even dig up information about me and my teammates up to the level of our secrets?! Don't you know the meaning of the word PRIVACY." she demanded and answer.

"Now, now,Taiyoura, please don't be so hot headed on a pleasant winter day, Ren was just kidding. There aren't any secret which were printed out," Hibiki calmly stood up and defended his group-mates.

"I don't think that PROPER guys should joke like that."

"Oh please, a joke is just a joke. No need to worry, Taiyoura.. or should I say Kazerina Sora-san?" Hibiki smirked. By saying that line, Hibiki thought he got the upper hand on the little argument.. But, it was unexpected that instead of being anxious on her situation, Taiyoura chuckled. "Good digging," she praised. She had a moment of an eye-to-eye contact with Mr. Smarty before finally deciding to give a riddle, "What does my names mean?" The question made all three very quiet. It was an awkward silence.. "If you could answer, you're free to question me or ask for a nutshell about me," Taiyoura added, confidently. "But, my time limit is only 5 minutes.. You've used up 2 minutes of silence."

"You just said it now, how about restart our time," Ren complained.

"Time is ticking.."

Ren clenched his teeth in irritation. A minute later, Ren finally broke in, "Ah whatever! We could read these papers for a day, we don't need your help!" He turned his back walking to the table beside the windows. Before he could pull the chair backwards, Eve exclaimed, "Daylight! Your names clan name Taiyoura combined with your original surname Sora, it'll mean Sun and Sky!"

"Are you sure?" Taiyoura raised an eyebrow.

"Well.. In Taiyoura, you'll have to removed the 'ra' to make it Taiyou. Plus the sun and the sky are together only during daylight," Hibiki elaborated.

Taiyoura smirked and taunted Ren saying, "Looks like your friends have better intelligence then you do, Mr. Hothead." Ren remained quiet but irritated.

As promised Taiyoura was questioned by Hibiki and Eve while Ren does more reading. Taiyoura was politely invited to sit down on the same sofa which revealed that she was wearing white, over-the-knee boots. Ren glanced while his other teammates asks questions to Ms. Annoying with irritation. He continued reading the documents in hand and found something that calmed him down..

After almost 30 minutes of questioning, the Trimens placed everything they know on a nutshell:  
1. Taiyoura hates squid and likes bread and luncheon meat for meals.  
2. Prefers thick, fantasy books over thin books.  
3. Likes to listen to music while reading. Classical music to make her sleep and modern music if on the mood.  
4. Blood type, AB. No one should dare wake her up when fast asleep.  
5. Loves quiet, and peaceful meadows or places along with fresh floral scent of flowers.

Taiyoura immediately left after then. She told them that she had more business with Lenalee to deal with so she needs to leave.

When the three womanizers got down to the first floor of the building, Ren broke the silence, "That Taiyoura really knows to make things hard for her, huh."

"What do you mean?" Hibiki turned to him.

"Remember that argument I had with her earlier? According to the information I had on the documents I held, she often does a test to check out people's temper and how long it could last. Guess she was trying to do that to me."

"Wow, Ren! I can't believe you actually solved that," Eve praised Ren, though that praise was a bit harsh on Ren's side.

"Well from what I saw today, I'm guessing, Ms. Daylight could be interesting to observe," Hibiki smiled.. The other two agreed firmly.

"But what are we going to do with these documents in hand?" Eve took out the files from the pocket inside his coat.

"Burn them?" Ren waved his in the air.

"No way," Hibiki snatched the files in an instant. "These can still be useful since we didn't asked about her skills and magic yet. Plus I worked hard to get these stuff, we can't just throw them away. We'll be double-checking some things using our Wind-reading glasses and finish these in a nutshell report."

"WHAT!?" Eve and Ren exclaimed in unison.

"Of course! We have to give a simplified report to Master before he comes back, so we'll finish this." Hibiki slightly grinned and walked to Master Bob's counter and sat on one of the seats. Before he could even have the chance to pull out something from his pocket, he noticed quite a crowd surrounding a table on a near corner. A lot of men gathered around.. "What's with all that commotion?" Hibiki wondered. "Hey Ren, Eve let's go che- Wait! Where are you guys!?" He turned to the commotion and spotted Eve and Ren already there, wanting to take a sneak peak on the center. "Y-You guys.. Hehe," Hibiki twitched his left eyebrow.

Sighing, Hibiki followed his friends to the commotion. He poked a blonde-haired guys wearing a purple suit and asked, "What's all the fuss about?"

"You didn't hear?" the guys answered in astonishment.

"Hear what?"

"One of the female newcomer is receiving tons of riddles from us! Her male friend claims that she can answer any riddle that people with give her! Just give her 3-5 minutes of thinking and she'll answer you."

"Newcomer? Ah~ You mean one of the Night Knights? Which one is it? The blue haired one or the aqua haired one? There were two women."

"It's the blue haired one. And my, she's really pretty."

The blonde haired guy turned to the commotion and tried to go across the crowd of guys. Hibiki sighed and placed his hands on his wrist.. "What a troublesome group," he mumbled.

"Oh, Hibiki!" a black haired guys came in with hands at the back of his head. His hair half-frames his face, and some hair is in between his blue, round eyes. His got some pointy-edged hair..

"I'm sorry, have we met before?" Hibiki politely questioned the guy.

"Huh? You mean you don't know!?" The guys began giggling afterwards. "I'm Kaede Kudo! You know! The only guy in the Night Knights!"

"What!?" Hibiki exclaimed. "Seriously!? I though you had a red hair and red eyes! What's with the black hair?"

"Nah~ The girls gave me a dare last week. They said that I have to wear a wig and a pair of contact lenses for 2 weeks without spoiling the black parts. Guess it worked on you guys, haha!"

"Okay! I've had enough, how many more secrets do you guys have there?"

"Oi, oi, not through the line. There are private secrets that we should keep, okay~? Plus, no one wants to share their secrets to anybody!"

Hibiki gave a heavier sigh. He totally got enough of the several secrets the Night Knights are slowly revealing. Too many surprises, too many things that will make you wonder. Hibiki is really going to kick the bucket if there is one more secret revealed from these annoying, surprising guys..

"Hey, Kaede!" Lenalee walked to him.. "Where have you been? I've been waiting for you!" she got her arms crossed across her small chest. Behind her, the huge crowd of men dispersed from one direction to another..

"Woah, seems like you ended the whole thing," Kaede complimented.

"No thanks to you! If you didn't told them that I can answer riddles, there wouldn't be a mess!" Lenalee complained. Lenalee wore a blue, elegant, removable stand-up neck, long sleeve, dolman style coat. Just like her friend earlier, she also wore a pair of boots that is colored black. "Glad I made a mistake on one question, that was the reason why they dispatched."

Kaede looked at Lenalee from head-to-toe, whistled the _WOO HOO _tone and got a punch from Lenalee on the head. "Ouch," he said.

"That's not even enough after what you did, brain-head," Lenalee complained even more.

"Why don't you have a brain on the head?"

"I'll hit you again if you want to know my answer!"

Observing the two, Hibiki soon noticed something unique about the three Knights. Though he knows that they are clearly different, they seem to have something that makes them.. common with each other. "_Guess, that's what makes the group a very interesting one to observe_," he thought.. "Well, it seems that I'm getting out of place, I'll just go to Eve and Ren. Bye love-birds," Hibiki teased them.

"We are not love-birds!" Lenalee protested.

"Yes we are~" Kaede hugged his girl. Lenalee slightly blushed as she tries to push him away.

As Hibiki walked to Ren and Eve, who're already sitting on Master Bob's counter, he stopped to think.. _"Then.. Where is she?"_

* * *

**A/N: OKAY~ I guess some of you guys are still confused on the situation. Earlier, Kaede explained that he doesn't have red hair.. He has black and a pair of blue eyes. Please don't be confused. =) If you're going to ask why I made such thing, ..., I'm bored.. =p  
**

**(CHAPTER REWRITTEN DUE TO THE LACK OF SATISFACTORY OF THE AUTHOR. THANK YOU FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING MINDS.)**

**[My box is still open for suggestions.]**


	5. Take The Mission If You Dare

**~Chapter 4 - Take The Mission If You Dare~**

"Ah~ Taking our first mission as new members of a guild! It makes my heart race," Kaede said excitedly while staring outside the window of the running train. "And we even got to do it on our first day! Things are really getting new and exciting around." Wearing the same set of clothes, Kaede stretches his arms and legs.. A black Blue Pegasus insignia appears to be marked on the left side of his neck.

"Oh Kaede you're so loud today," Lenalee complained, sitting on the seat across Kaede's, right next to the window. "Though I am glad that it's no longer snowing since now I can freely wear my new top." Lenalee giggled as she stared at her elegant and fitted, scoop neck, solid color of pink, puff short sleeve t-shirt. Plus the combination of jeans and pink ballerinas, her fashion set made her mood.

"Still glad you're the first one who entered the boutique, huh," Taiyoura smiled at her seatmate.

"Look who's wearing the stylish, flower embellished shoulder, solid color of aqua, short puff sleeve t-shirt that she has been wanting to buy from the start."

"Ehehehe.." Taiyoura dropped a sweat. She paired her t-shirt with white shorts and a pair of aqua colored knee-high sneakers with white lace.

"That aside, it's good that Master Bob gave us our guild marks earlier then anticipated," Kaede placed his hands behind his neck. "If it weren't for him, we wouldn't be in this mission." The girls agreed.

"But, don't you think that was weird?" Taiyoura crossed her arms. "Half a million jewel just to retrieve a single lacrima from a near ruins just doesn't make sense..."

"Oh geez, don't complain with the client. Maybe he counted the time of how to search around a huge old town! It's not easy to find small things in big places you know."

Kaede's comment made Taiyoura feel a little ease.

Earlier, the Night Knights were scanning the request board at the guild. Randomly, Kaede took one out and firmly decided to take that one as their first assignment. He read the paper when they were already waiting for the train to arrive.. Kaede then handed over the paper to Taiyoura when they stepped in the vehicle.

The train has been running for 40 minutes now. From town to another town, the Night Knights has to travel for 45 minutes to get to their destination. They'll be waiting for 5 more minutes now.

There is this motto of Kaede that he always say when their on the train "boredom kills, play while in the train!" What game could he be up to.. After moments Kaede still was silent. Lenalee gave him a quick glare and wondered, "_What's up with him now?" _No longer wanting to think, she looked at the outside and just admired the scenery she can't even get a good look at.

"Ah le le, why so quiet today, Kaede?" Taiyoura sang.

It took a few seconds before Kaede could answer, "The clan.."

"The clan?" Lenalee gave her attention to Kaede. "What about them?"

"I was just thinking, it has been a year since we departed from them. I wonder how they're doing now. Are they fine? Is there anything wrong? Stuff like that.."

At first, Taiyoura and Lenalee couldn't believe what they were hearing. The women always believed that Kaede was a playful guy who is dating Lenalee. Neither thought about him being such a worry-wort.. Taiyoura giggled, "Well that's new. Kaede thinking about someone else besides Lenalee. A rare phenomenon, I say."

"What's with the comment?" Lenalee dropped a sweat.

"Even if you say that, I can't stop thinking about Louie and Jake back there. They've failed the exit exams twice when we were still there. And even if they passed while we're out, where could they be now." Kaede changed his facial emotion.. worrying eyes and sad face made it all up.

Becoming startled with Kaede's face, Lenalee looked into his eyes. For a while, she beamed at him.. Kaede noticed the beam and his face turned black. "Huh? Kaede, what's wrong?" Lenalee said worriedly.

"I-It's just that.. y-you.."

"Huh?"

"YOU FELL FOR THE TRICK!" Kaede laughed with bursting tears of laughter from his eyes. He kept laughing and he soon held his stomach. "I-I can't believe you fell for that drama! HA!" he continued laughing.

On the other hand, both women weren't having the same expression as Kaede. Instead.. it's the total opposite.

* * *

"Seriously, that hit hurts you know," Kaede calmly complained with hands crossed.

"Of course we'll hit you hard!" Lenalee faced him with angry eyes. "After what you did, that's still not enough!"

"Pipe down, we're in a town and you'll get attention," Taiyoura tried to chill the two down.

Walking inside a huge town was fine enough for the three. Taiyoura held the request paper containing the client's address. Since Lenalee knows how to navigate well in places, their confident that they won't get lost around. The girls navigate the town while Kaede "observes" their surroundings. His is not confident with strangers so he glares at every person he sees, evilly.

The Night Knights walked for quite some time.. Finally, they've found the client's house. A traditional Japanese house locked in a long wall surrounding it. In front was a huge wooden gate. It was such a beautiful sight to see. The Night Knights were admiring the place when the door suddenly opened. Lenalee and Kaede thought that it opened in it's own but, a geisha girl wearing a pink kimono was opening it. She bowed before the three and greeted them, "Welcome young travelers! Your presences is expected.. Please, follow me." The geisha turned and walked to the other side. The Knights quickly followed her.. Kaede was kind enough to close the heavy door and dashed at the back of the girls. The geisha led the Knights to a traditional Japanese garden. It had a Koi pond and a red bridge over it. Also plants of different kinds.. "Ah~" Taiyoura admired the surroundings. "This place is so refreshing in the eyes.." Lenalee agreed.

Kaede was smiling while looking around when he suddenly noticed a woman, wearing a red kimono, standing in front of a wooden sliding door, not far from them. She had a long, violet hair.. An average height and fair skinned beautified the woman's appearance. However, Kaede cannot see her face due to her posture facing the other direction.

"The master would meet you here. Please be patient," the geisha bowed before the Knights before leaving... Kaede glanced back to the sliding door and saw no one there. _"Guess she left," _is what he thought.

"Kaede, what's wrong this time?" Lenalee crossed her arms. Her eyes were still mad and her facial expression shows the same thing..

"A-Ah nothing at all!" Kaede lied nervously.

"Then why are you talking in that tone of voice? Are you sure you're not hiding something?"

"R-Really! Honest!"

A sliding door from behind Kaede opened up. An old man wearing a white, formal suit as standing there with a crane on his right hand. He had thick eyebrows, brown eyes and a brown shaggy hair. He had a small mustache under his nose too. Though his height is too short, around Yajima-san's height. Well, that maybe the cause of getting old.

"Welcome, wizards," he made his welcoming speech. "I suppose you got my request from Blue Pegasus, huh."

The Night Knights nod in unison. Taiyoura took out the piece of paper they have out from her shorts' pocket. She unfolded it and showed it to the old man.

"Hm?" the client raised an eyebrow. "You don't have the other one."

"What other one?" Taiyoura asked politely.

"I had another request there. A mission to protect my daughter, Kira. It had the same reward money as that you hold."

"We didn't saw it.."

The old man was placed in a deep thought. Everything was silent. Wind passing by, leave rustle, noise from the outside, and wind carrying the scent of peace. This was all they could hear. "Ah!" the old man snapped. "I forgot to do something very important..!"

Thinking that it was another mission to do, the Night Knights prepared themselves for any announcement.

"I forgot to introduce myself."

Taiyoura, Lenalee and Kaede's faces were disappointed. Taiyoura's eyebrows and mouth were twitching, Lenalee made a face palm and Kaede lowered his head.

The old client cleared his throat and introduced himself with the name Poco, Poco Lilac, a high-ranked officer of a factory that builds lacrima modeled headphones.. He expanded his speech by saying that the mission the Knights would take is a very serious mission.

For the mission they hold, they'll have to retrieve a Dragon Lacrima from the near ruins. He added that the ruins are rumored to be the home of a ghost and when the full moon raises, those who enter never comes back.

"Jeez, that's kids story. Ghost and supernatural stuff," Kaede confidently spoke up. "Right? Lenalee?" He turned his head to Lenalee, beside him, and saw her shivering in fear. He looked up to Taiyoura and she had the same state as her friend. "Scaredie-cats!"

Poco continued his story.. He said that the lacrima was stolen from their home around 12:00am in the midnight. Many men attempted to go and help him find the lacrima but in the end they were cowards. It was then Poco was left no choice but to send a request to a legal guild. "This mission is no ordinary mission. Though I must warn you girls that there is another person living there," Poco placed a finger on his cheek.

"W-Who?" Lenalee shuddered.

"A pervert!"

The three became speechless.. "Wait? Why does a pervert mind living in such ruins then?" Taiyoura placed her hands on her waist.

"Well the people say that his friends with the said ghost something."

"Wow..."

"But, that aside. Will you take it or not? If you will, there is no turning back. That is a wizard's promise. Take the mission if you dare, youngsters."


	6. Here It Begins

**~Chapter 5 - Here it Begins~**

"Ah, spending the night in a house like this makes me feel nostalgic~" Kaede sat on a Japanese futon, relaxing from all the walking they did earlier. "Oh yeah, by the way, Tai-chan.. What time is it?"

Taiyoura, who was on the other side, across Kaede's futon, was in a long sitting position while holding a book. She lowered the book and shook her head, "I don't know."

"It's time to navigate this place," Lenalee slid the sliding door open. She walked in, leaving her shoes behind and closed the door. On her right hand is a piece of paper. She lifted it until her face and firmly said, "This place is a really beautiful place to live in." She walked to her futon, between Kaede and Taiyoura's futons, and scrolled the paper open. She placed it down so that her group-mates can see as well. "So we're here," Lenalee pointed out a small box in the map.

The map showed how the place is arranged inside the wall of brick. It showed the main house and the guest houses. The Night Knights are now currently staying in one of those guest houses. The guests houses small but raised off the ground. 4 woods, that are at every corner, are used to support the house. In securing one's safety while staying as a guest, it had a wooden fence to keep people from falling. To climb up the elevated building, there is a small staircase, still made up of wood, that takes one up. The guest houses are still Japanese traditional houses so of course, they have sliding doors as their entrance and exit doors. In the front view, the house is being surrounded with a space left for people to walk on. And since the ceiling is high up, there are more air that enters.

In the Knights' room, it's just a simple square shaped room with 3 futons prepared. Kaede sleeps on the left, Taiyoura on the right and Lenalee in the middle.

In the map, it showed that there were 3 small boxes indicating that there are three guest house and the group's room is in the middle. Also that the three houses are placed in the center. The guest houses are facing the koi pond and the garden. While behind those small buildings is a long, traditional house facing the opposite direction. "If I'm going to make that house a table, it would be a 3x3 table, that's for sure," Kaede commented. The long house extended from the start of the wall to the end point. Only 3 meters of space is left for people to walk by it's sides. Between the guest house and the main house is a 5 meter space gap.

By looking at the map, Taiyoura found something missing, "Say, Lenalee, did they said anything about how tall these walls are?"

"No, they didn't," Lenalee replied. "Though I think it's two times my height, I guess."

"But most importantly, did they tell you about dinner? I'm starving!" Kaede complained.

"Is food the only thing to you? The geisha earlier told me that food will be delivered here to be patient."

Kaede cheered as he fall back to his futon. "Soon I get to eat~" he laughed. "Did they said something about dessert and main course?"

Lenalee and Taiyorua didn't answer. Instead they kept focusing their attention in the map and tried to solve on how the culprit escaped with the Dragon Lacrima in hand.. Kaede made a heavy sigh. "Great, now I'm talking to myself.. I'll just go out for fresh air." He stood up and left the room with hands inside his pockets. He slid the door open and saw the same girl he saw earlier in the afternoon.

"A-Ahm.." she shuddered. "F-Father would like to have a word with you three at the main house.. He is in his room, waiting." She lifted her head an made an eye to eye contact with Kaede for a few seconds.. Then Lenalee pulled his ear making him move away from the "geisha?"

"Is that so?" Taiyoura beamed right in front of her. "We'll be right there in a jiffy."

The girl then just left without saying anything. She just bowed quickly and left in a hurry.

Taiyoura closed the door and narrowed her eyes towards Kaede.

"W-WHAT?!" Kaede exclaimed. Lenalee let go of Kaede's ear.

"You were going to flirt with her, weren't you?" Lenalee placed her hands in her waist.

"No! I don't have plans for that right now," Kaede exclaimed. "We have to go to Poco-san, what are you girls waiting for?"

"Kaede, this isn't a place for games."

"I know, why are you guys so-!" he looked away. "Never mind." his eyes turned so fierce that it was scary to make an eye to eye contact with him. He walked out, angrily, slamming the door shut.

Taiyoura sighed heavily, "I don't know what to do with him anymore."

"Well it is HIS fault," Lenalee firmly said.

"There wasn't anything wrong, Lenalee. The geisha was- Wait! That girl just said father.. Meaning.."

"KIRA-SAMA!" a loud voice yelled.

Quickly, all three became alerted and ran to the gate where they heard the loud cry.

"K-Kira-sama.. she went running out," a geisha wearing a purple kimono pointed out the open gate.

"Are you sure?!" Kaede tried to confirm.

"Y-Yes. She went out quickly. And when I tried to stop her, she said I shouldn't mind other people's businesses."

"Tch!" Kaede ran out. Left with no choice, Lenalee and Taiyoura went after him. Though it was against her will, Lenalee gave a chase for Kira. The three took the street on the right side. Pausing for a while, Lenalee looked back and swung her right hand saying, "Thunder Art! Multiple Mirror!" In front of her, a blue magic circle appeared and vanished as soon as 10 copies of the original Lenalee was summoned. She gave them orders to take the other street in case Kira ran towards there. Then they separated..

* * *

Soon later, the Night Knights found themselves empty handed as they go back to the Lilac residence.. Disappointment filled the air and each faces were ashamed.

At the gate, Poco was standing with a cane in hand. He noticed the Knights' faces and sighed heavily, "Well anyway, this isn't the mission you took. It's fine.."

"I don't think so," Taiyoura said promptly. "A young girl is roaming around at night. And she IS your daughter. Isn't that dangerous?"

"Not for a wizard like herself," a geisha added. "You see, Kira-sama is a trained Ice wizard. She became quite troublesome to the master that he decided to make her stay here until the preparations are finished."

"Preparations?" Lenalee asked. "For...?"

"An **omai **party next week. She was to attend the party and find her future spouse. She is in the right age for marrying.."

"That's enough, Lily," Poco slammed his cane. "They have no need to know more about personal things." He made an evil stare at the Night Knights. "You should know better then pass through the line of privacy, youngsters."

"My apologies, Poco-san," Lenalee said.

Poco no longer said anything. He just turned his back on them and walked to the main house. Without any orders, the Night Knights followed their instincts and went along with Poco. Poco changed direction and went in the guest house the mages were staying. There, inside, he explained that the path they are to take will be more difficult. He also confessed that his daughter has been acting strange lately that he suspects her for being the culprit. Though he has no evidence about his claim. "I will ask you this for the last time," he said.. "Will you continue to move on or leave?"

The three were speechless. Only silence was present.

"Hmp! Don't underestimate us, Poco-san," Lenalee said with a smirk and arms crossed.

"We don't take things we can't do," Taiyorua added.

"Plus we just joined a guild. We can't let them down for the 2nd time in a day,"Kaede explained briefly. Of course we'll go on!"

* * *

**A/N: Omai is like an arrange meeting for two people to be engaged. For further notice, this omai is different from omae that means "you". Thank you for understanding. **

**Sorry if this took too long to be published. I have an incoming exam next week so I was quite busy with books. But don't worry, I already have the plot in my head... But that's also the reason why I'm so lazy to write.. *^* Anyway, please enjoy this chapter. **


	7. The Root of the Problem

**~Chapter 6 - The Root of The Problem!~**

Feet running, feeling determined, all prepared, the Night Knights runs through a thick forest wanting to reach the end and enter the assigned destination.

_"There is a nearby forest here", _the words echoed in Lenalee's head. _"Through it, you'll see the hunted ruins I told you about earlier. There you would meet a pervert. And I'm positive that Kira went there." _

_"Why say so?" _

_"Because I know so.. That child went wondering near there a few days ago. I suspect her weird movements nowadays.. Please bring her back and if possible, find the Dragon Lacrima."_

Both Lenalee and Taiyoura's thoughts are both similar.. That Kira, the ghost and the pervert must be friends. They don't know why, they don't know how, but something tells them that.

"Over there!" Kaede pointed a white light. "That must be the end."

The Knights increased their speed a little and found themselves in the entrance of the creepy and dusty ruins. The ruins has sand surrounding it. It's also going up hill with a lot of stone houses.

"There is no wonder why a ghost _loves _living here," Kaede complimented.

"This is an abandon town," Lenalee touched a near wall. "This must also be the home of the said ghost.. It wants to stay here and watch the place."

Taiyoura started shivering, "Ah.. guys.." She pointed straight forward.

A figure was standing on where Taiyoura is pointing. A bony, person..? With ragged clothes and a mask. Lenalee also began shivering.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~!" the girls yell in fear.

"Thunder Art, Stingy Butterflies!" Lenalee swung her right hand from right to left creating a yellow magic circle appear and disappear as soon as yellow butterflies were summoned. The butterflies flew straight for the creepy creature and stung it. Unfortunately, nothing happened. It didn't damaged the creature at all. "I-Impossible," Lenalee shuddered. "How could that..?!"

"Roar of the Thunder Dragon!" Taiyoura released her breath spell. It did hit the creature but it made no damage just like what happened to Lenalee's move.

_"HA HA HA HA HA HA! WIZARDS LIKE YOU PIPSQUEAK CANNOT DEFEAT ME!" _a voice went laughing.

"Oh yeah?!" Kaede questioned the claim. "Just wait and see creep face! _**Amaterasu **__**Nijūhachi Shiki**!"_ Three Amaterasu magic circles are created, in the shapes of circles on in front of another, in front of Kaede. The girls jumped aside trying not to get hit. The area around the creepy creature is then engulfed in a massive spherical shock wave that t hen turns into a pillar with rune written around it. "Try surviving that punk!" he smirked.

After the pillar disappeared, a big hole on the ground, where the creature stood, was left. It appears that it wasn't able to survive the massive attack. "Heh. That's how to get things done," Kaede boast-off.

"Right, right, right, now off to find that Dragon Lacrima," Lenalee proceeded inside the ruins. Taiyoura soon followed her best friend.

"Y-You girls," Kaede dropped a sweat.

"Not so fast, wizies!" a chubby man arose from the sand right in front of the girls. He was wearing a native shirt with triangles with different colors as pattern. Brown shoes with the same design and brown shoes. He had no hair and it seems that he is drunk. "You wouldn't," he hiccuped. "Want to see Poco-san's daughter die in front," he hiccuped again. "In front of your and would do?" The man swayed, drunk, with sleepy looking brown eyes.

"The heck?! Who are you?!" Lenalee exclaimed desperately.

"Me? Well I'm just a drunk. A once rich man who invested into Poco-san's company and lost his money because of him! Saiga Haruhi, that's me!"

"Saiga.. H-Ha what?" Kaede dropped a sweat.

"HARUHI!" Saiga exclaimed. "Well, that gives in to youngsters," he hiccuped. "You're soo free that *hic* you have earrr problems.. Heh!" Saiga then suddenly turned his attention to the girls alone. Looking so perverted.

"What's with that look? It's creeping me out," Taiyoura whispered to herself.

In a blink of an eye, Saiga disappeared in front of them. The next thing they know, he's already at the back of Lenalee, holding her leg, "Ah~ You've got a nice figure there, missie. Heheh."

Kaede got totally pissed off. He clenched his fists saying, "Let my Lenalee go, you bastard!"

Saiga smirked, "Your Lenalee? So Lenalee and this chick's name. Hi, I'm-!"

Taiyoura kicked Saiga flying high. Her face so, too, pissed. "No one flirts with Lenalee, except Kaede! Got that you pervert..!"

Lenalee's face cracked with shock. Did she heard her friends correctly..? Kaede claiming her as his and Taiyoura backing-up his claim.. _"Just. What. Is. Going. On. Here..?" _she twitched and eyebrow.

"You can't defeat me like that!" Saiga proclaimed as he falls down, feet upwards and face downwards. He rolled on the air and landed on his feet, back to the spot where he made an appearance. He then gave an instant creepy smile, "You wouldn't want to see Poco-san's daughter die in front of you now would you?" He snapped a finger and behind him a voice whispered, "Sand Wall" The sand around the Knights moved and before they knew it, they were already trapped inside a tall wall of sand!

"Dammit!" Kaede silently cursed.

The three slowly gathered up in the center, forming a small triangle. They held their place, keeping their sense sharp in case of any incoming attacks from the enemy.

After the sand wall was down, behind Saiga was the creepy creature again! This time, holding Kira as captive. "Hehe! I introduce to you, my puppet!" Saiga chuckled evilly. "Just like I said, you wouldn't want to see her die in front of you know would you? If so, you girls! Come here.."

Saiga smirked in the thought of being in the upper hand. Not to his expectations, a guy called from behind, "Stop it! Uncle!"

A teen-age looking guy with a messy, yellow hair was panting. Wearing an open, yellow, sleeveless hoodie, his red t-shirt was exposed. Khaki cargo pants and blue shoes completed his look.

Saiga turned to his nephew and yelled at him, "Don't cross the line, Kirito! We've talked about this before and you agreed to it!"

"I never said I agreed on this plan!" Kirito yelled back. He was a few meters away from his uncle's place. "You were the one who started this all!"

"Shut up! This is all for your sake too!"

"His.. sake?" Lenalee dropped a sweat. Though she doesn't know the whole story, she can tell that something happened that triggered Saiga to do this. And, adding his statement that it is for her nephew's sake, it must be family business.

"Poco-san has already sent his condolences. Mother and Father.." Kirito calmed down and uttered with sad eyes.

"So it's alright with you?! Loosing both your parents just because of that bastard's greed..!" Saiga exclaimed angrily.

"Father is not a bastard!" Kira exclaimed.

"Shut up, you good for nothing child-!" he turned yelling at Kira. In the next instant, Saiga was inside an ice cocoon, unable to move.

Kira looked at Kirito and it seems that the ice came from him, an Ice Make wizard! "I'm sorry, uncle," he uttered softly. The creepy creature fell and turned to sand. Kira ran up to Kirito and hugged him tightly. "I knew you'd come," she said as tears burst from her eyes. On the other hand, Kirito hugged her the same way and smiled.

"You're in a relationship?!" the Night Knights exclaimed in surprise.

Kirito looked up to them and nod.

"SERIOUSLY?!"

"W-What an unexpected connection," Taiyoura backed off a little while trembling.

"I only see this in movies," Lenalee covered her mouth.

"Hey, why are you.. getting those reactions?" Kaede questioned the girls' reactions.

The girls instantly grasps heavily. "You don't know?!" Taiyoura exclaimed. "This scene only happens in movies!" Lenalee added desperately. "And.. s-somehow.. this feelings.."

"Don't act so dramatic to this!" Kaede yelled. "Anyway, aren't we forgetting something? We're here to search for that lacrima."

"Um, excuse me, are you looking for this?" Kirito dug up the sand and revealed a red lacrima. In a way, it got scratched by something with claws that tracks of it was left. "Uncle ordered Kira too bring this, one night."

"Oh~ I see," Kaede walked up to him. The other Knights then followed him. "Then? Why was your uncle doing such a thing. Giving orders to a girl like Kira..?"

"Excuse me but I'm 18 years old," Kira corrected. Kaede dropped a sweat in embarrassment.

"The truth is, it wasn't uncle who invested into Poco-san's company. It was my parents. Years ago, we lived in a wealthy life. My parents had a company and everything was going smoothly. Until, they invested a huge sum of money into Poco-san's business and something went wrong. Our company was bankrupted and soon both my parents died because they were investigating on the problem. And due to that, Uncle Saiga thought that Poco-san was the one who ordered men to murder my parents but he was wrong. It wasn't Poco-san. Why would the murderer sponsor my parent's funeral, always visit them everyday, and gave me secret training to improve my magic skills that I recently discovered a little later after the incident..? Poco-san even allowed me to stay in their guest room and that was when I met Kira. A few months passed then Uncle Saiga took me in this ruins and never allowed me to leave. He was the one who started all the ghost rumor and used it as a shield."

"Ahm, I don't want to bring the bad memories but, when was the incident?" Taiyoura asked politely.

"A year ago," Kirito replied. "It was a day before my birthday actually."

"We're sorry to hear that," Lenalee sadly said.

"Anyway," he handed the lacrima. "You better get your mission finished and send my Uncle to prison."

"A-Are you really fine with that?! He is your uncle," Kaede asked.

"Yeah. It's his fault after all. He could not be forgiven that easily after attempting to hurt Kira. Things like that~!"

* * *

**A/N: Kaede's spell mean Formula 28. **

**So sorry for the late update. I was getting lazy because I had fun RPing with the people with tumblr. Please forgive me. And such, please expect the next chapter would be updated late.. SORRRY~~!**


	8. Enter Miss Fiore!

**~Chapter 7: Enter Miss Fiore!~**

Taking a step after another, Taiyoura takes a deep breath of fresh morning air. Her attire: purple slim fit, Jacquard lace, long sleeves hoodie + pants plus size and a pair of white sneakers kept her body warm from the snow and coldness around her (due to her magic specializing the element thunder, she dislikes cold weather).

Taiyoura reached a café shop that just opened. From the wide window, she could see the menu of coffee, cakes, cookies and bread. When she spotted the Blueberry cake and the Cappuccino coffee (which are one of her favorites), she quickly checked her pocket if she had brought some bucks with her. And fortunately, she did. With a smiling face, Taiyoura entered the café shop and sat at the table closest to the window then a waiter took her order.

After which, she waited patiently for her cake and coffee when she noticed Hibiki Laytis was with some girl. A blonde haired female with her hair tied in a long, wavy, and flowing ponytail that reached the middle of her back. Her attire consists of a light-pink strapless dress, revealing a fair share of her ample cleavage and reaching down to her calves, which bears a large slash on the skirt's left part. Tied around her waist is a long, flowing light cloth with ruffled edges, circling most of her lower body, with her skirt under it, and she wears light heeled sandals for footwear. They were talking while walking together. From her seat, Taiyoura could not confirm if the female her superior is with is a member of the guild or not because she doesn't see her guild mark. Her curiosity was about to lead her to follow them but was stopped after her order landed on her table gently.

"Well, he is known for being a womanizer, that could be one of his girls," she said confidently, with a smile and eyes closed, and took a small piece out of her cake then ate it. "Delicious!"

* * *

Back to their rented house, Lenalee spaces out of the window in the living room. She wears a slim fit, U-shaped neck, long sleeve solid color of purple, t-shirt, a pair of skinny jeans and gray ballerina pumps for her footwear. On her right wrist is a big, plain purple bangle. She crossed her arms and wondered, "Why is it cold here and yet in Kira's place it's not?" She turned her head to the last Knight, who is in the kitchen preparing their meal.

"I don't know, why ask me?" Kaede replied as he cracked an egg and dropped it on a bowl. "Hey, Lenalee, it's okay for you to eat scrambled eggs, right?" he asked turning his back to Lenalee. He saw that she had spaced out the window, again, and got a bit irritated that made him say, "At least listen to those who wants to ask you something..!"

"Huh? Ugh.. yeah," she replied softly.

"Late reaction-er..."

After several minutes of silence in the room, the maiden noticed snow falling. She smiled gently while staring at each snow the falls from the sky.

"Meal's ready..!" Kaede announced. From the cabinet at the end of the line, Kaede took out four plates, 1 bowl and three pairs of utensils. First, he placed the scrambled egg from the frying pan to a plate and laid it on the table. He next took the bowl and placed rice in it. Then he arranged the remaining plates in front of three seats, as well as the utensils.

Kaede Kudo wears a casual style, long sleeve, shoulder stitching, leather coat with cap and a zipper. Combined with black pants and his usual, favorite footwear: black sneakers.

Lenalee got up from the sofa and walked to the dinning table, not far from where she sat. She and Kaede ate their breakfast without their "leader", peacefully without saying a word to each other.

After meals, Kaede decided to go and follow Taiyoura on her walk around town. "It's already 8:15 am and she still hasn't come back. I'm getting worried," he explained before taking a step outside. He was surprised when Lenalee held his left arm and said, "I-I'm coming with you. I don't want to see with another girl again.."

Together, the couple walked out of the house, locked the door and started walking their way out of the snow. They passed by several houses before hearing the sound of crowd cheering.. As they drew closer, it seems that a fight has occurred.

"Please.. I'm innocent!" a voice cried out.

"Oi~ What's going on here?" Kaede smirked. "Wanna check it out?"

Lenalee gave a firm nod and together, both wizards rushed to the whole crowd. They can't get any closer then they are due to the huge amount of crowd.

"No choice then..!" Lenalee said under her breath. "Thunder Art! Thunder Rider!" she swung her hand creating a magic circle. It then fade away when 2 large, electrical butterflies was in front of her. She instructed Kaede to hop on but he insisted that they might be harmful to his "precious" skin.

"Don't get girly..! Just hop on," she commanded him.

Kaede let pass the "girly" comment and jumped on the butterfly nearest to him. Then was followed by Lenalee who rode the last butterfly. She whispered something to her electrical minions that made them flap their wings and fly on higher air. From their position in the air, it became clearer on who were fighting. But to their surprise...

"T-Taiyoura?!" Lenalee exclaimed.

"And Jenny Realight?!" Kaede dropped a sweat.

"You know her?"

"Yeah. Some the Weekly Sorcerer magazine. She's also part of the guild.."

"But then.. why is this going on?"

"Like I said it wasn't me!" Taiyoura dodged an attack from the current Miss Fiore.

"Oh yeah!? Then who has it?! The pervert who touched my butt?!" Jenny exclaimed furiously.

"I don't know why ask me!? I was just passing by when you cried out loud..!"

Jenny clenched her teeth and transformed into her battle form and declared, "You better be ready for a fight miss!"

"W-W-W-W-W-W-WHAT!?" the dragon slayer exclaimed in nervous and surprise.

Jenny was about ready to hit Taiyoura when Ren, luckily, blocked her by raising his right arm in front of her face saying, "That's enough Jenny. Taiyoura is not the culprit.."

"R-Ren..!" Jenny widen her eyes.

"Phew, I'm saved," Taiyoura wiped the sweat on her forehead.

"T-Then who could have..?"

"An old geezer did," he smiled at her. "A near passerby saw him touch your butt. He tried to tell you but he was too nervous to talk to you thinking that you might accuse him next. Fortunately for him, he bumped into me and told me everything he saw. We caught up with the perverted geezer quickly and gave him a good lesson."

"Is that so.. Then, who is this woman?" Jenny placed her left hand on her waist.

"Ah, about that.. I'm Taiyoura. Taiyoura Tsuji of Blue Pegasus." Taiyoura giggled.

"You're in Blue Pegasus!?"

"Huh?"

"Ah, you see Taiyoura, Jenny here is one of your superiors," Ren explained.

"WHAT~!"

* * *

**A/N: Fun facts!  
****1. Kaede's hair is based on Devit's hair, a character from D. Gray Man.  
****2. The girls' clothing and some of Kaede's clothes are based from the items from a website.**

**Update date: January 2, 2013. **

**I'm soo sorry for the late update. I had a different plot then this but then I couldn't get myself to write those plots (because there were 2 plots) and I took my time reading the Power of Six (a book sequel to a movie). I'm really sorry and if you have ideas for the next chapter, any help you can offer, please don't be afraid to tell me. I'M REALLY SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE! **

**Tomorrow will be the start of school again so expect that I wouldn't be able to write the next chapter for a week (again) because there are going to be projects and assignments I'm going to do. But don't worry, after 3 months left of school, I'm sure I can write faster =). **

**PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!**


	9. Fairy Tail Pays a Visit

**~Chapter 8 - Fairy Tail Pays a Visit~**

"Cheer up, Taiyoura. Jenny didn't mean any harm," Hibiki drops a sweat as he tries to comfort sulking Taiyoura.

"But still..! Being called a pervert is rude! Especially when you're accusing someone who is on your side," she said in a sad mood. Her hands folded and forehead laying down on her arm.

Seated on Master Bob's counter, Hibiki sits next to the female dragon slayer. It has been 15 minutes since Taiyoura began sulking on seat located at the end of the seats. She was completely affected by what Jenny nicknamed her. Taiyoura thinks it's not polite to do so.

"Consider Jenny's feelings. She just mistook you for that geezer, that's all."

"Speaking of the topic, where did go?! I saw you talking to her as you guys walk and yet when she accused me you weren't present next to her," Taiyoura raised her head, faced him and changed the topic.

"I was about to buy some snacks when I spotted Ren chasing the culprit so I joined him. Eve also joined the fry when we passed by him. And during the chase, Ren had to explain to us the information that reached him. We gave a little "beating" to the geezer.."

"You.. "beat" the.. old guy? I kinda pity him... Being bullied by youngsters and all."

"Oi, could it be that you're saying that-!"

"Not!"

Seeing Taiyoura's denying face, Hibiki giggled a bit, "You're pretty cute when you deny something."

By the compliment, Taiyoura turned a bit red and was quite flattered inside. Hibiki used his left elbow and left palm to create a stand for him to land his chin on as he stares at her. The next thing she knew, she was already staring at those pretty pair of brown eyes Fiore's most wanted boyfriend has. Taiyoura shook her head, face a bit more red, and firmly told Hibiki, "S-Stop trying to flatter me..!"

"Oh, I was? But honestly, I wasn't trying to."

"Liar..!" she turned her head, with eyes closed, ending the eye-to-eye contact they had. She then made a pair of cute puffy cheeks making her look childish.

Hibiki chuckled cutely.

The newcomer opened her right eye and saw the chuckling smart wizard. "_He is cute himself though,_" she thought quietly.

"Hm? Now you're the one who is staring at me," Hibiki said with his cute, charming voice.

"You're pretty cute yourself, mister," she said smilingly.

"Then could it be that you've fallen for my charm as well?"

"I just complimented you back. Nothing else," she crossed her arms and sightly lowered her head, closing her eyes.

"Eh? Is that true?" Hibiki leaned forward closer to her. Their faces only had a small distance between each other that he could feel Taiyoura's breath.

"Course it is," she grinned.

"You know, though we didn't asked you about it, I know your type of guys."

Hearing his statement, Taiyoura instantly became startled. "What... do you mean.. by that," she said shaking.

"A year older than you, a few inches taller then you, smart, gentleman, not too muscularly built, has no tattoo, has a pair of pretty eyes and a cute smile. You know that kind of describes me. We heard that you'd be turning 20 this coming May 19 while I'm turning 21 this year. I'm not going to be surprise when one day you'd fall for me," he confidently smirked leaning a bit closer to her face.

**_POW!_**

She crossed her arms and said, "Hmp! That's for trying to flirt with me."

"_Hehehe, that hurts,_" Hibiki gently laid his right hand on his head. He was punched on the head as a punishment for trying to flirt with Taiyoura, is what she thought he was doing. "I wasn't flirting, Taiyoura-san."

"Then what term would you give that? You're a smart guy so if it wasn't flirting then what?"

"I was testing on how to allure you."

Taiyoura's pretty face crack in astonishment, "That's a bit worse.."

"Well anyway," he said as he stood up. "I'll just be walking in town to cool down."

"It's cold outside," she reminded him.

"That's why I'm going to cool down _outside_." Hibiki placed his left hand on his left pocket and took a step down the staircase.

Feeling a bit of guilt, she looked down on the ground with sad eyes. Sure, she doesn't like guys flirting with her but that doesn't give her enough reason to hit her superior. She totally felt guilty.

"Wait!" she grabbed on Hibiki's left arm. "I-I'm coming with you," she said shyly.

"Hm? Why?"

"Why..? That's because.. I was wrong. I didn't have enough reason to hit someone older then me. Just because you were pissing me off that doesn't mean I could already hit you.. Sorry for that.."

Hibiki was smiling as he gazed at his shoulder when the door opened. There stood Alzack Conell, Bisca Mulan and Max Alors of Fairy Tail. They seemed to be accompanied by Ichiya and the other Trimens members.

~6 minutes later~

"So you're saying that you're asking help from us to help you find Tenroujima Island, correct?" Ichiya looked up to the guests.

"Yeah," Max nodded.

"It's been a month since your guild's core members disappeared along with the island. This one is going to be a bit tricky," Hibiki said.

"Please help us..! Your guild is the only one we know that holds a lot of information on how to do several things," Alzack pleaded.

"Ah well.. We're not declining on the request but we should ask Master Bob about it," Ren said.

"I see.."

"But, if Master Bob says anything about, please contact us as soon as possible," Bisca said with determined eyes.

"Of course!" Eve nodded.

"By the way.. You have a lovely second floor," Max complimented the room they now are inside.

"Thanks!" Hibiki smiled.

"Oh yeah, please don't mind me asking but, that girl who was holding your arm earlier, was that your girlfriend, Hibiki?" Alzack asked curiously.

"Eh?"

"Of course not! Taiyoura-san is a newcomer to the guild, how would they be in a relationship already? She and her teammates have just been here for a day," Eve answered for his friend. "_Which also reminds me, why was Taiyoura-san holding his arm?_"

"I see.. Sorry for intruding your personal life, Hibiki."

"Ah it's nothing! It's actually better that you spoke up. If not the misunderstanding wouldn't be cleared," Ren said as he shook his hands sideways in front of himself.

"Anyway, that's all what we came for," Bisca politely said. "Thank you for sparing some time with us. We hope to hear your reply soon."

"Of course! Master came from Fairy Tail so I'm positive he'd give his yes for the request," Ichiya confirmed them.

"Glad to hear that," Max smiled.

The Trimens, leaving Eve behind, then accompanied the Fairy Tail to the train station. The guests departed for Hargeon Town soon after.

As for Eve, he went ahead and asked Taiyoura about the scene earlier. He offered her a talk inside the same room he came from. She briefly explained the situation and why exactly she did it.

"_So she's actually a bit scary too, huh,_" Eve dropped a sweat.

A knock on the door made an entrance to the scene. The door widely opened and there was Master Bob smiling while he holds the door knob..

* * *

**A/N: Yey! I finished it! Now I know that I can't write a chapter if I can't finish it in one day. LOL! Anyway, is this chapter a bit... lacking? I plan to do that every chapter! Just so that everyone would excitedly wait for the next one. Anyway, have fun thinking on what the next chapter might be.. =)**


	10. The Announced Event

**~Chapter 9 - The Announced Event~**

_RING RING! _goes the bell. The door was then closed gently by a female customer wearing a pink winter coat. She greets the shop owner, standing in front of the counter, a good morning before asking several questions.

The rectangular shaped book store was made out of fine wood. It had a lot of shelves filled with different kinds of books such as fantasy books, fashion and books with information like encyclopedias, magazines and dictionaries. The building was not so big but also not too small too.

At the last shelf, Lenalee slides her finger on a book after another. At the fantasy shelf, she searches for a certain book that her best friend would love to read. "Here it is!" she flips a book into her hand. "The Lady of Sadness," she reads the title. "I'm sure she'll be delighted to finally read this book!" With two books in hand, along with the last book she took, Lenalee walks to the counter to purchase the items.

"Good morning," the female shop owner greeted her.

"Good morning," Lenalee smiles. "I would like to buy these books please." She placed the books on the counter for checking.

"My, certainly."

As the purchasing process goes on, Lenalee looked at the big window, just behind the counter. She saw Kaede already leaning on it. It seems that he has done his part already..

"30,000 jewels in total, miss," she politely said.

"Ah, okay," Lenalee takes jewels from her pocket and handed it over. She was then given a plastic bag with the books she bought. Lenalee then left the store with a delight smile.

"You done?" Kaede turns his head to Lenalee. "Cause I am."

"You bought the items right this time, right?"

"Course I did!"

"Then shall we head back now?"

Kaede gave a nod and together, they walk back home. As they do, they talk about their plan in comforting their best friend that was nicknamed pervert a few scenes ago. They both know their friend as the type of person that hates to be nicknamed in rude words such as pervert, maniac and so on.. Lenalee thought of the idea of having a little "Comfort Her" event at their rented house. Kaede bough some movie lacrima that they could watch and Lenalee bought book for her to read after.

"Oh yeah, I just noticed, you bought 2 books?" Kaede gazed at the plastic bag Lenalee holds.

"Yeah! They featured a book with an interesting story line. Just wanted to read, that's all," she said with a proud face.

"What are you so proud of?"

"I'm just proud of myself of having the idea of this little event. After all, I am the clever one in the team."

"Yeah right.. Let's just get back home."

"Oh what's this? You jealous or something?" Lenalee goad.

"Am not!" Kaede firmly replied.

"Ok, if you say so~"

"Lenalee.."

"What?"

"Never mind.."

The dating couple finally reached their home after several minutes of walking from the distant shopping street. They both heard noise from inside.. Kaede was about to ready himself for combat but he heard a female's voice, "You're back!" The door was then opened by none other but Taiyoura herself. Her warm smile welcomed Lenalee and Kaede as they walk towards her.

"Where have you guys been? I've been waiting for you," Taiyoura complained childishly.

"Ah sorry about that, actaully-" Kaede was cut.

"We just had a little shopping at a distant street since it's boring if we're just going to stay here without any entertainment material, right, Kaede?" Lenalee explained, smilingly, slowly turning her head to Kaede.

As Kaede stares at Lenalee's smile, he gets the feeling that Lenalee whispered something, "_Don't spill the_ surprise!" So, trying not to loosen the curtains, he quickly says, "O-Of course! It's a boring world without something entertaining!" Kaede then laughs.

"You guys are acting weird, is there something you're hiding?"

"Huh us? No there isn't," Lenalee waves her hands sideways.

"O..kay? Well, since we came to this.. Wait! You bought books? But there is the library upstairs.. Why bother?"

"Remember? We weren't given the key to the room so it's currently locked," Kaede briefly explained.

"You have a point. Oh well, I also have something to tell you guys so let's watch those movie lacrimas you bought. I'll explain to you guys an important matter during the show."

"Ok," Lenalee closed the door behind her.

"By the way.. care for some snacks before watching? I've got a new thing."

"You're going to cook?" Kaede asked in a shaking voice.

"Of course! You guys can wait upstairs in your rooms as I do it. After all, it doesn't take too long to cook it."

Kaede and Lenalee starts shivering in nervous. Both wizards know how low Taiyoura's cooking skills are. Back in the past, she would often spill the milk, drop the egg on the floor, waste flour and burn the pancakes. Her cooking as always been terrible.. Lenalee sighed and thought, "_Well, nothing hurts if she cooks once in a while. It will only.. be bad, and won't hurt._" She then grabbed Kaede by the arm and walked to the second floor. Once they got there, Lenalee whispered a plan on Kaede's ears..

.

.

.

45 minutes later..

"Meal's ready!" Taiyoura cried.

Lenalee turned her door knob and opened the door, instantly smelling the good scent of food. "_This could be a successful work,_" she sniffed the air. On Kaede's door, she knocked three times before the Amaterasu wizard opened it. She gave a nod to him then turned her back, walking down the living room.

"I heard, _meal's _ready. Did you also cook lunch?" Lenalee asked smilingly.

"Yeah, I did," Taiyoura lifted a plate with filled with rice balls. Then on the table, there was a long plate with rolls covered in breadcrumbs. And on there were three saucer filled with different colored sauce. Taiyoura told Lenalee that they'd first get to pick what they want to taste first and that the sauce is only meant for the roll, but could try and experiment on the rice balls.

"So what sauce are these?" Lenalee leaned to each saucer and sniffed one after another. "From my guess, this one is hot sauce," she stopped at the last saucer with light red sauce.

"Yup!" Taiyoura said smilingly.

"Where did you get the recipe of those rolls from?"

"It was mailed here when I arrived. it was below the door so I think it was just slipped down."

"I see.. Kaede! Hurry up and get down here!"

"Coming," Kaede's footsteps were heard. On hand, Kaede has 3 movie lacrimas. He raised the top on and said, "This one is about romance, next is action and then drama. Which one would you prefer to watch first?"

Lenalee and Taiyoura gave a smile.. Meaning to say..

"Romance, I get it," Kaede twitched his eyebrows.

"Well, just get anything from the table if you want to eat," Taiyoura landed the plate gently on the dining table.

Kaede stepped into the living room and was then soon followed by the ladies. Kaede pressed a switch at the side and in an instant, the movie was aired on the air..

.

.

In the middle of the movie..

"What~?! There is going to be a Night Party!?" Lenalee exclaimed, on the top of her lungs. Due to her shock, she got up from her sit yelling at Taiyoura's ear.

"Just as she said, you no need to yell Lenalee have some manners," Kaede reminded Lenalee.

"Says the one who ate the rice balls so quickly!" she turned to Kaede.

"Hmp! It was Taiyoura's first successful dish and it was tasty. Not like the rolls," he said under his breath.

"Stop fighting you two, it's no big deal. And yes, just like I said, there is going to be a Night Party by two weeks from now," Taiyorua said calmly taking a bite from one of her homemade rice balls.

"Two weeks?! That won't give us much time!" Lenalee exclaimed with worrying eyes.

"Don't be such a worry-wort. You'll get older by tomorrow if you keep that up," Kaede teased her with a grin.

"Don't be so cocky just because you have good grades in formal dance, Kaeded!"

"I wasn't, missy."

"Unlike us girls, we don't know how to do it properly just like you do."

"Heh! That's why it's going to be funny. Girls are supposedly to one to know it better then guys and yet here I am, dancing formally then you girls do."

"Guess we have to practice then. Time flies fast," Taiyoura suggested.

"With who? If it's only Kaede, then the progress would be slow," Lenalee worried.

"Then you practice with _them,_" Kaede takes another rice ball from the dinning table. "That'll be exciting to watch."


	11. Practice, Practice, Practice!

**~Chapter 10 - Practice, Practice, Practice!~**

"In the Night Party, there would be a time when everyone is required to dance formal dancing, meaning to say you girls have to learn it," Bob places a palm on his right cheek.

"We know that but," Lenalee worries. "Does everyone have to join in?"

"Of course! It's a guild event so participating is necessary my dear Lenalee. Also, I heard that the weather is going to be good starting tomorrow so I'm hoping that on the date of the event, the clouds won't cry."

"Oh yeah, now I remember!" Kaede babbles in from behind Lenalee's back. "Why formal dancing? Couldn't it be just, I don't know, freestyle dancing? That would be fun. Guess.."

"About that.." Bob was interrupted by the sound of rushing footsteps coming down from the staircase.

"I'm sorry to keep you waiting!" Taiyoura said while panting. Because of her rushing actions, she felt exhausted. She wears the same set of clothes she wore when she first met Hibiki. A bright, pink plain shirt, and white small jacket suit with pink folded collar and folded sleeves. A pair of denim shorts and knee-high black sneakers.

"About time," Lenalee smiles at her friend with arms crossed.

Taiyoura smiles as a response.

"Well, shall we head there then?" Bob said as she stands up from the sofa, just across Lenalee's seat.

Lenalee follows and in unison, the Night Knights gives a nod at their Master.

"By the way, you have such a lovely home," Bob compliments the building smilingly.

"Thanks!" Kaede opens the door for the guests and the girls.

The group then walked to the guild house. As they did, Bob expanded more information about the Night Party. And to answer Kaede's question, he also explained that formal dancing the a traditional dace for their guild event. He confessed that it was formally known as Night Ball but was later on called as Night Party because the public would confuse it for the object.

As the pink building's distance between the walking wizards gets smaller, the dragon slayer and her female companion both gets nervous. They know who they're going to practice with.. It's the Trimens.. Thinking about those flirty men just gives them more nervousness! They're not the guys' fans to be so nervous and such, but they just can't stop worrying. Taiyoura fears that she might get carried away again and if one of them flirts with her, she could hit him on the head! She totally wants to forget the mistake she did with her first superior. As for Lenalee, she had once offended Kaede with what she did to him during their first mission and doesn't want to offend him again. She hopes very hard on, her head, that Kaede would be her practice partner.

Bob opened the door and as soon as Taiyoura stepped in, she could hear the laughter of a group of wizards from a far table. She's sure she has met one of them but didn't bother to continue listening to their loud voices.

She went straight to the second floor where they were told the daily practice will be. She slowly, pushed open the butterfly decorated door and was a bit surprised on what she saw.. Hibiki and Jenny had an eye-to-eye moment with Ren, Eve and Ichiya observing them carefully. From behind her shoulder, Kaede peeped and tried not to yell. The same went for Lenalee, she covered her mouth to prevent herself from shrieking..

"What are you guys waiting for?" Bob said. "Go on."

"It's just that.. We don't wanna ruin the moment," Lenalee whispered to Bob's ear, giggling.

"Hmm? What moment?" he took a look for himself. When he saw his "children" having their moments of staring at each other, he was puzzled. "Why? What's with the scene?"

The Night Knights turned to their master with red faces..! "Seriously?!" Kaede exclaimed as quiet as he could. "Master, you don't know that the meaning of..!" He gasps heavily.

Answering the question, Bob shook his head. Taiyoura leaned closer to his ear and whispered something to him. After whispering, she backed off slightly having a red face. "Oh~ I get it," Bob chuckled. "You mean you were taught _that_? I'm sorry to say but, I think it's quite hilarious. I'm not offending your teacher though."

Bob's voice was loud enough for the Trimens and Jenny to hear that it interrupted the eye-to-eye connection.

"Yo!" Ren waved his hand. "How long have you been there?"

"Long enough for them to-!"

"Just came! Really, just came!" Kaede cuts Bob's sentence.

"Is that so?" Jenny arched and eyebrow. "Well come in then. Don't want to waste time, now do you?"

As told, the Night Knights entered the room. Bob had to borrow, again, Ichiya for things needed to be discussed by them. Taiyoura had noticed that every time they're going to have a little meeting with the Trimens, Master Bob is always with Ichiya or Ichiya is not present. It made her feel curious and a little bit suspicious. But, she also thought that it's gonna be rude if she thinks of things like those so she didn't asked why.

"Well, shall we start?" Hibiki extended a hand to Taiyoura, which cause her shock.

"M-Me?" she mumbled, pointing a finger to her.

"Am I extending my hand to someone else?" he asked sarcastically.

The dragon slayer turned her head from left to right and slowly placed her hand on his palm. Hibiki led the way and placed both his hands in their respective positions. The pair was then followed by Kaede paired with Jenny and Lenalee paired with Ren. Eve played the music with a movie lacrima. It only caused the music and showed the writings **"Prom Song" **in the air. So basically, the movie lacrima was only bought for it's music.. The three pairs started dancing when the first beat made it's entrance.

"My head still hurts from the punch, Tai-chan," Hibiki starts a conversation.

Taiyoura chuckled, "Did you purposely picked me because you wanted to get revenge?"

"Hmm.. If you put it that way, I guess it's somewhere near that assumption. I picked you because I wanted to know how bad you are in formal dancing."

"Is that so? Then I'll do my best not be embarrassed during practices. I'm sure you won't find a way to avenge her aching head that way."

"Not so fast, I still have my trump card. Don't be so confident."

"And what might that be?"

"It's a secret. Thunder is known for being called as the element of surprise, isn't it? I'm just wondering how you'd react if _you _the one who is given a surprise."

"What would you expect a person's reaction would be? Obviously surprised, duh."

Hibiki didn't answer and yet just gave a chuckle.

Taiyoura smiled at her partner. She showed her confident personality but was really nervous in the inside. "_Oh great! I don't know what this guy is up to! What could he be planning to do..? Ambush me? Interrupt my private quarters and search for embarrassing photos about me?! Fish..! Someone, rescue me.. Help.." _

* * *

**A/N: OK~ I've noticed.. No one has reviewed for the past chapters lately that I'm losing inspiration to continue writing.. Somebody review! Hehe, lol! Just over reacting with all.. I'm jelly with the other HibikixOC stories because they have a lot of reviews and favorites.. Waaah~! **

**Anyway, did you like this chapter? Oh how I hope you do because I worked hard for this! Now I know that someone of you are confused on why the Night Knights reacted that way to the eye-to-eye moment of Jenny and Hibiki, right? That will be explained in the further chapters. Right now please wait for the up coming chapters because I've got a funny plan in my head.. Hihihi!**


	12. The Letter

**~Chapter 11 - The Letter~**

People chattering, mouths eating or drinking, utensils clattering and tapping shoes of the costumers are the usual sound one can hear inside a fine dining restaurant. And sitting, again, right next to the window are two wizards.. Namely, Kaede Kudo and Lenalee Tsuji of Blue Pegasus.

"Hmm.. which one should I go for?" Kaede slides his index finger on the laminated menu, he holds, trying to choose from the menu of dishes available. "This one is costly, while this one doesn't look tasty at all.."

"Kaede, remember what the headmaster told you before about picking your meal. If you're going to speak out something not good then better not say it," Lenalee reminded him. "And it's way better if you pick your meal quietly like the others does. Otherwise, they'll find you annoying and you'll gain pretty much attention from the others."

"Yes ma'am.." The Amaterasu wizard reads quietly the writings with his eyes. His eyes stopped when he noticed a tasty looking meat dish..! The plating and the way it looked like made him excited to eat it! Oh how he wished that the pictures are actually true! But of course, it would if he would order them and pay for them.

"Looks like you've found something tasty looking again," Lenalee lowered the menu down her violet eyes. She arched an eyebrow after saying so.

Kaede responded in a cheerful nod.

"You should be careful or else you'd end up like the last time we ate outside. You chose a tasty looking salad but ended up vomiting everything you ate. You had a stomach ache afterwards."

"I know, I know, I'm being careful this time, missy. You don't have to worry about me, I know my way around these meals," he boasted off proudly of this "ability" of his.

"I doubt that..."

"So you ready to order?"

"Guess so. I wanna try this one and since it's not expensive, like what I expect yours would be, I'd go for it."

"The extra comment isn't necessary," he dropped a sweat. "By the way, are you sure Taiyoura is going to be fine with him alone back there? I can't really trust her to him now.. Especially at this hour."

"Don't worry about her, Taiyoura knows her way through womanizers and playboys. She'll be fine. Remember? She told us about how she beat Hibiki on the head earlier this morning. She'll do the same if he tries anything stupid."

Kaede sighed, accepting the explanation he just got. He looked out the big glass window and saw a lot of people passing by. Some were children, people with children, women who came from shopping, drunk men being carried by their friends and so on. He smiled about it. The male wizard then felt nostalgic. He remembered the first time he and the girls first met..

* * *

"It was the 15th time you stepped on my foot, Tai-chan..!" the Archive wizard said with a twitching eyebrow.

"Ehehe," she laughs lightly as she drops a sweat.

The practice partners are sitting on the long L shaped sofa. Hibiki, with crossed legs, rotates his right foot to, according to him, decrease the pain of being stepped on. Taiyoura watches him from his left side.

"Hey," the dragon slayer said. "I'm just curious, why do you cross your legs instead of the 4 shaped position..? It's not that I'm criticizing you, like I said, I'm curious about it..!"

Hibiki stops and stares at her for a while. His eyes blinks and he keeps his mouth closed.

Taiyoura, however, feels a bit awkward. The way that he stares at her is the awkward part for her. It's like she's being.. checked without actually touching her. She has to end it! The bluenette snapped her fingers in front of his eyes and said, "What are you staring at?"

"I'm just trying to figure out something.. didn't got it since you interrupted me," he said smilingly.

"_And I'm the antagonist now!?_" she exclaimed on her brain.

"To answer your first question, crossing my legs makes it easier for me to position myself better. It can allows me to need less space unlike the 4 shaped sitting position you mentioned, I'll be occupying more space then," he briefly explained. "Satisfied?"

Taiyoura nods in satisfaction. Now there is only one question that she is eager to know the answer. "What were you trying to figure out?" she asks in the curious manner.

With the question in hand, Hibiki slightly blushes, "I think it's better if you don't know the answer to your question. Y-You'll just go wild."

"Say it already..!" she encouraged him to be honest with her. "You better not tell me a lie, Hibiki. Please answer me. I won't leave here until you spill the beans already..!"

"Your desperation will get you in trouble young lady," he dropped a sweat. "If you insist, but first, promise me you won't go mad on me."

"Okay, fine. As along as you'll be honest with me.."

Hibiki inhaled some air first before answering. "_Please don't make me regret this..._" He looked her in the eye and said, "Why do you have a small chest..?"

Then silence made it's entrance.. The room was very quiet that all the two can hear is the air swooshing pass by them.

"Ugh.. Tai-chan?" Hibiki cuts the silence.

"Stop calling me that, it doesn't suit me at all," Taiyoura crosses her arms and legs in irritation. She also stopped facing Hibiki and instead turned her back on him.

"What are you mad about..?"

"Don't play idiot because I know you're not. I'm pretty sure you know why exactly I'm angry for, right?"

"Is it because I asked about why your chests are small?"

"Don't repeat it!"

"Hey I was also curious about it! You asked me a question, why can't I do so?"

"My question isn't perverted, mister!"

He goes silent. True, her question wasn't perverted just like his question.. It then suddenly made him feel bad about it. "Okay, I'm sorry for the question, Tai-chan," he said.

"I said don't call me that..!"

"Then what do you want me to call you..? Taiyoura-chan is long so I just shorten it to Tai-chan."

"Calling me by name is enough..!"

"You promised me that you won't get mad, Taiyoura. You're not keeping your word," he strictly reminded her.

This time, it was the dragon slayer who went silent. Certainly she promised that she won't get mad about his question but couldn't stop being mad. Honestly, it wasn't because of the question. No, it wasn't. She kept quiet on her pose.

Hibiki sighed.. He doesn't know what to do next. For sure he would get a punishment if he tries to flirt with her. So what else can he possibly do? He crossed his arms, titled his head down then shut his eyes and starts thinking.

A minute later Taiyoura got up from her seat and firmly said, "I should be get going. Lenalee and Kaede must be waiting for me back home. Those two can get impatient too."

To her surprise that when she was about to take a step, the blonde-head stopped her by holding her right wrist. He still has his head facing the floor so she couldn't tell what this flirt wants from her this time.

"What is it this time, Hibiki...-san?"

"Wait," he demanded. Hibiki then stood up next to Taiyoura and suddenly hugged her from behind.

"W-Wha-What are you trying to-" she says in astonishment but was cut because Hibiki uttered something.

"Sorry about that..."

"Eh..?"

"I'm sorry that I made you upset of any word that I blabbered earlier. Whatever it is, I take it back. So please, don't be upset with me anymore. I don't wish for a woman to be upset with my lousy actions especially when I couldn't fix it as fast as possible."

Hearing his statement, to be honest, Taiyoura is touched. She thought that they won't be talking or practicing with each other again because of their argument but she is also glad that he was the one who apologized. What a rude girl..

"Fine, I'll accept the sorry. Now would you mind letting go of me?" she glanced on her shoulder.

Hibiki smiled and held her for a while before letting go, "Of course. But can I have the honor of escorting you to your house? At least we can talk about the Night Party while walking."

"If you insist... I'll allow it."

* * *

"This is not good," Kaede shuddered.

"Yeah," Lenalee nods in agreement. "This letter isn't a nice one at all.."


	13. The Snowman Goes Missing

**~Chapter 12 - The Snowman Goes Missing!~**

"Thanks for the escort," she smiled. "It was nice talking to you."

"Likewise," he bowed politely. "I'm looking forward the next time we practice, Taiyoura. I do hope that my foot won't get as much pain as what I got earlier."

The wizards laugh together..

Taiyoura and Hibiki exchanged goodbyes and took their separate ways. Taiyoura approached the rented house while Hibiki goes back to the guild house.

The light bluenette was already holding the door knob when it turned by itself. Kaede opened the door for her then said, "Emergency. We all have to talk."

Puzzled because of her teammate's serious face, she asked, "What's the fuss all about?"

"You'll find out."

Taiyoura stepped in then found Lenalee sitting on the right sofa of the living room. The Thunder Art wizard waved the envelope in the air also with a serious looking face, "You must know about this one."

She walked towards her friend as Kaede stomp his way to his room. "What's with him?" she pointed.

"He is going to be on a look for someone."

"Who? And for what?"

"Just read this," Lenalee handed over the envelope.

"_Just what are these guys up to? What's with their serious faces? Is it because I was escorted by Hibiki..? Now that won't make sense,_" she thought before obtaining the item. She was about to open it when the door bell suddenly rang. Both women were startled. Taiyoura took a step to the door but Lenalee stopped her, "I'll take this. You go and read that."

Taiyoura took a deep sigh and settled down on the sofa. She opened the letter than flipped open a folded paper. With her eyes, she silently reads the paper.. Her face turned pale because of fear after reading the threat...

"**Beware of us. We want to greet you, dear reader, that whoever you are, we know you.. Tonight, one of your friends will disappear in the dark and be our little play toy. If you cannot do anything to save him, say goodbye and wish him good luck if he'll go up.. or go down!**"

"It's freaky right?" Lenalee leans on the wall grasping a package on her hands.

"This is," the dragon slayer shuddered.

"Exactly. A threat.."

"And it seems that it has arrived then," Kaede's voice said, coming down from upstairs. "The communications lacrima they spoke about."

"What do you mean they spoke about. There isn't a single word about that written in here," Taiyoura reviews the letter. It was then that she noticed small writings on a corner of the paper. It had the smallest font size a human can read. "**Wait for the communications lacrima. It will be delivered,**" is what it says.

"Should we open it now?" Lenalee gently placed the package on the dinning table.

"We should!" Taiyoura firmly said. "Whoever that is, I can tell that it's someone we're close with."

"A possible deduction," Kaede complimented.

"Then it's a 'yes' then," Lenalee unwrapped the wrapper. As expected, a cardboard box was wrapped. But, what was unexpected that the culprits wrote a note saying, "**Do not open until 9:00 am tomorrow** **morning.**"

"Damn these guys!" the black-head scowled.

"Then?" Taiyoura crossed her arms. "What do we do? If they're acting like this then there is a slight chance that they may haven't yet caught their prey.."

"True, but, it's also possible that they have caught whoever it is but is setting their materials. Geez, if these guys are to plan something like this, at least they should have a smoother plan than this. Making us wait and all," Lenalee glanced at the box. "Well anyway, let's put this away until tomorrow. We'll open it at 9:00 sharp. But until then, we could try and see who is missing. It's either from the guild.."

"Or from the clans," Kaede added.

"Exactly. And that's what I fear about."

"Don't worry, guys. If they are to kidnap anyone from either clans, I'm sure the headmaster would eventually notice," Taiyoura assured them positively. "And.. You can't underestimate the girls from the Tsuji clan along with the boys of the Kudo clan, right?"

The others agreed firmly with frowns replaced with slight smiles on their faces.

"Well then, shall we head to bed now? It's better if we get up early tomorrow to have more spare time to figure out this threatening puzzle we have on our shoulders."

"Huh?! Can't we watch movies? Just an hour, pretty please..?" Kaede pleaded.

"I guess it's okay. Anyway it's still around 7. What do you say Lenalee?"

"What's the genre?" the deep bluenette smiled.

In a dash, Kaede ran up to his room bringing with him all sorts of movie lacrimas. He had round more than 10 movies in hand. "We have horror, action, drama, romance, comedy, friendship, hurt/comfort, adventure, and so on," Kaede explained. "So which one are you going to go for?"

...

...

...

In the hour they spent watching a film, they forgot all their problems. Together they laughed, cried and shrieked during the whole film. But.. is forgetting about their friend's, whoever it is, situation a good thing? Or they'll eventually remember it tomorrow?

A little earlier, before the movie ended, Taiyoura went to bed with sleepy eyes. She was too tired to see more of the action the main protagonist is doing. She mentally suggested to herself to just walk out and crawl into bed. With a gentle close, she walks to her bed. "Hmmm," she hummed. "I wonder if.. Nah! It's impossible. They're strong wizards after all. Nothing to worry." The dragon slayer falls on her bed and covers herself with her blanket. Soon, she fell into a peaceful sleep.

...

...

...

"AAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHH H!" he screamed at the top of his lungs.. The blonde head falls to the ground, hard, and instantly becomes unconscious.

"Boss, we got the target," a young-aged male voice said. "Shall we get going."

Standing on top of a 3-story building, a black-head man smirks. He cuts off the Telepathy, smirking. "Finally, a revenge for my sister.."

"Boss really loves to do that, huh. Cutting off his telepathy to say yes.."

"Don't argue, or else you'll face the same consequences like the kid years ago."

"Tch. Don't worry, I won't. Plus I'm not as stupid as that kiddo."

"We'll see about that."

...

...

...

The next morning.. Kaede got up early from bed. He didn't wore any top as he walks downstairs. The black-head wizard yawns as he lays both his feet on the living room. "Geez, I forgot the time last night that I fell asleep late," he gently rubs the sleepiness on his eyes. "Geez those girls. Picking a movie for themselves yet they couldn't finish it! Next time they should at least-" His sentence was cut as soon as he heard a knock on the door.

"Whose there?" he asked with caution.

"Oi, I can hear you talking to yourself," Ren said.

"Sheesh, it's Tsunie," he made a disappointed face.

"Don't call me that, it's not my name you idiot!" Ren exclaimed behind the door.

"Oh sorry, it's Renie. Almost forgot, sorry..!"

"You idiot..."

"Then? What's the matter, coming here so early. Don't tell me you want to take my Lenalee away from me."

"Are you serious..?!"

"Look, Kaede," Hibiki's voice suddenly butts in. "We didn't come here to play. We just want to ask you this.. Have you seen Eve?"

Startled by the blonde-head's question, Kaede paused for a moment. Then answers him, "No. Not today. There's no way that Eve would come here early anyway.."

The boys behind the door went silent.. Soon, they were chattering softly. Like they were discussing an important matter. "Oi," Kaede shoved his hands on his pant's pockets. "What are you guys talking about their?"

The Trimens then paused like they were thinking on how to answer.

"I'm asking a question here.."

"Eve is missing," Hibiki firmly announced.

* * *

**A/N: So sorry for the late update. I had exams earlier this morning and I'm still going to take some tomorrow. Added with tons of clearance requirements, it's a really tight schedule.. **

**Anyway, here is the latest chapter as of Feb. 4, 2013, Philippine time. Please enjoy, read and review. It's highly appreciated, really. Corrections and recommendations are double highly appreciated.**

**Special PS: Fairy Tail the Movie is now available in RAW! Source: love my anime .net (Remove the spaces to visit the site.)**


	14. Taking Action on the Situation

**~Chapter 13 - Taking Action on the Situation~**

"You're kidding right..?" Kaede shuddered in fear.

"No," Hibiki said. "We've been looking for him earlier this morning. It's not normal for Eve to wonder off somewhere without letting us know, or someone from the guild, where he is going."

"He's no kid," Kaede reasoned. "He is 16 years old, don't treat him like one."

"It's his hobby to do so," Ren exclaimed. "He won't miss any hobby of his, Kaede. We know him better."

Kaede clenched his hands into fists and ran up to the stairs going to the girls' room. He opened Lenalee's door and shook her hard, trying to wake her from her slumber. Lenalee moaned in irritation, "What do you want..?! It's still 7 in the morning!"

"I think I know who the kidnapped person is," Kaede said seriously.

Hearing the word "kidnapped" made Lenalee quickly remember the letter and the communications lacrima. She instantly sat up and asked who..

Kaede paused for a moment. He wanted to make sure Lenalee won't freak out so he calmly said, "It's Eve."

Minutes later, the first two Night Knights found themselves banging on the female dragon slayer's door. "Oi Taiyoura, wake up, emergency!" Kaede said while banging the door. "You got to get up," Lenalee added.

The door swung open. The tired Taiyoura mumbles in irritation, "Let me get this straight.. I woke up at 5:49 am in the morning because of a big bang on the neighboring house and I dozed off around 6:00 am sharp. What do you want that you have to wake me up at exactly 7:20 am?!"

The dating couple shuddered in fear. They know that their friend here doesn't want her beauty sleep to be disturb. But what could they do? They had to let her know about the fuss and that Eve is missing.

"We know that you're tired Taiyoura," Lenalee started to explain. "But please understand that this is an emergency. It's about the letter we received last night. The threatening letter."

"We know who is the kidnapped one," Kaede backup Lenalee. "It's Eve. Hibiki and Ren says that he has misd for an hour."

"You can't proclaim that someone is missing unless he or she is gone for more than 2 hours. If you're saying that Eve has a habit of waking up at 6:00 am and someone kidnapped him, then you must have a solid evidence," Taiyoura reasoned. "You can't wake up a blood type AB person from his or her sleep just because some guys announcing that Eve is gone just because they haven't seen him for an hour. They should at least visit the places where the kid goes and ask people around town to see if they have seen him. That's all."

She then closed the door shut. Locked it from the inside and her footsteps sounded to walk to her bed. It then vanished right after a few seconds.

Both Lenalee and Kaede sighed in disbelief..

...

...

...

"So you're saying that, she didn't bother to hear us out and just reasoned herself way out, correct?" Hibiki asked with a disappointed look on his face and crossed legs while sitting on the white sofa.

"Somewhere like that, yeah," Kaede dropped a sweat.

"Great. Know we have someone, in the guild, who doesn't know how to take care for their guild mates!" Ren commented angrily, seated right next to Hibiki.

"You can't judge her for her actions," Lenalee defended her best friend from the kitchen sink. "Taiyoura knows how to react to some situations and she has good reasoning too. Just be patient and you'll see how caring she is."

"And when is that exactly?" Hibiki arched an eyebrow.

"Just wait.. And I bet, she's already fixed herself up now, planning to leave through the window of her room and investigate."

A bit startled on Lenalee's statement, both men wanted to check on the dragon slayer. But they were a bit shy to do so. Afraid to be called perverts and all by Taiyoura herself. Ren could picture Taiyoura throwing things that them while she's in her towel. While Hibiki on the other hand pictured Taiyoura punching both of them, hard, while she's still haven't had her top on yet. But wait, how did they ended up to those ideas when Lenalee said a total different one? Perverts..

Hibiki and Ren were wondering off to different ideas when they soon realized that Kaede said something. "Earth to these maniacs.. You still alive dudes?" he sarcastically asked waving a good smelling bread in front of them both.

Hibiki shook his head off the weird imaginations and said, "Shouldn't be on your top right now?" He wanted not to talk about the maniac comment..

"Ugh.. yeah. But the temperature is a bit hot so I don't want to heat myself up with such.. heavy suits," he eyed the guys' attires as if he was pointing at them.

"Yeah right.."

"Anyway, placing that aside, can you snap your friend out of his imagination? I bet Taiyoura wouldn't want to know what he is thinking."

Hibiki elbowed Ren back to reality. His tsundere friend turned to him in response. "What?" he asked.

"You were daydreaming," Kaede ate his bread.

"Oh.." Ren gently rubbed the tip of his pointer finger to his cheek.

"Breakfast is ready!" Lenalee removed her red apron.

The table was neatly arranged with 5 bowls, containing an equal amount of rice, and set of chopsticks. A glass of orange juice, each, were standing right next to the bowls. In the middle of the table are beacon, egg and a loaf of bread.

In delight, Kaede had an open mouth smile on his face when he sniffed the food's scent. He spun around and quickly walked to the table. "Impressive as always Lenalee!" he praised his partner. He took his chopsticks, ready to dig in, but the deep bluenette reminded him of his manners and he should wear a t-shirt. Guess it was excitement that powered up Kaede because he dashed to his room and a few seconds later he is already chowing down his meal.

Lenalee sighed but then smiled. She noticed that Hibiki and Ren were just staring at the table. She giggled, "Come on guys, there is enough for everyone. Join us."

Hibiki hesitates, "You sure..?"

"Why do you think I prepared 5 plates then, hm?"

"I guess.."

"Besides, we Knights enjoy discussing several important things while eating."

The blonde-head and black-head pulled their chair and sat down.

They started eating after seeing Lenalee slowly eat her own meal.

While taking their meal, the 4 wizards of Blue Pegasus talked about how to track down Eve's location. Hibiki suggested that they use his Archive magic to do so. But he added that it would take time if Eve is somewhere far from them. The last three agreed on the idea. Before forgetting about it, Kaede also pin pointed about what happened last night. About the threat they received and the communications lacrima.

"So you think that these people might be one of those who has a grudge against you?" Ren asked.

"Yeah something like that," Kaede chomped the beacon down.

* * *

On the other hand, the dragon slayer has already begun her secret mission. Just right after she had her breakfast on a fast food chain.

She began her work by asking people the same question: "Have you seen a boy with yellow hair lately this morning." Some answered "no" and several asked for more details so she was force to elaborate. "A cute guy from Blue Pegasus. He is part of the Trimens," she said. Using the additional information she said, she manage to find out that the last time he was seen was last night. He was walking his way back home. The light bluenette asked what time it was but they were all not sure what time it was..

As she continue to do her mission, she notices a bald head man following her. He was of average body. Wearing black shoes, black pants, red t-shirt and black leather jacket. She couldn't see his eyes because is wearing a pair of black shades.

Quietly, she often sneaks glances at the man. Every time she asks a person, she always sees him. It got her suspicious. Could this man be following her because he knows her? What does he want from her? Is he part of the missing Eve? She had to find out!

Taiyoura planned to trap him. She went to a narrow aisle between two buildings and waited for him. She heard rushing footsteps coming in. The dragon slayer is a 100% positive that it's her stalker.

"Caught yah!" he guy smirked behind her. She instantly found herself with a knife below her chin being held by the same bald man. "You should have been patiently waited in your place, missy. Look what trouble you got to, hehe!"

"I don't think it's me who is in trouble," she responded. Taiyoura grabbed his arm and slammed him hard on the ground using one of her Judo tricks.

The bald man screamed in pain.

"Now tell me," she smiled threateningly. "Where is my cute friend?"

* * *

In bandages and handcuffed, the bald man slouched while being interrogated by the 5 wizards, gathered in the living room.

"You better answer us or else we'll call our master," Kaede crossed his arms. "You don't want to see him mad, do you?"

He kept quiet.

"You want to do this the hard way, huh?" Ren cracked his fingers, ready to harm the man in any possible way.

He kept quiet.

"How do we get this man talk?" Hibiki whispered to Taiyoura, who is standing right next to him.

"Don't know. He was stubborn when I brought him here," she raised and lowered her shoulders.

Finally he spoke, "Heh! Even if you ask me questions, I'll never answer! The boss will come and save me. You can never stop us by taking out revenge from you!"

"Who are you pointing at?" Lenalee promptly asked.

"Oh~ you wanna know? Why don't you ask that blonde flirt over there what he did to the boss' sister months ago?"

"Idiot, you said that you won't answer any question," Kaede sarcastically said.

"Now now, little boy, don't get so high and mighty there."

"Not trying to. And know the difference of boy and guy, okay? Use a dictionary.."

"Kaede..!" Lenalee stopped Kaede from further talking.

Taiyoura stares at the bald man with suspicion. "_Something doesn't add.._" she thought.

"What did our teammate have do you with your boss' sister?" Ren asked.

"Hehe, you really wanna know?"

"That's why he asked," Taiyoura reasoned.

"He raped her.."

"WHAT?!" The group cried.

"There is no way Hibiki did that!" Ren defended his friend. "Right, Hibiki?"

"Y-Yeah!" he slightly turned red. "I maybe be flirty but I never go to the level of having a one night stand with a girl!"

"You just don't remember.. You were drunk back then. You woke up alone in a room because the miss left in shame," the bald smirked. "Oh and.. have you lost track of the 'T' eh?"

Eyes open wide, a worried look on her face, Taiyoura shudders in fear..

"Hm? 'T'? Oh yeah! It's 9:00 already. Tai-" Kaede widens his eyes.

* * *

**A/N: Like it? Hope you do.. I worked for 2 days or more for this one. I really wanted to make it long so that I can make up for the time lost. **

**I hope you like that climax.. The "rape" part. I wanted to do that.. For a long hour.. HEHE! **

**Please leave your reviews and corrections in this chapter. Thanks!**

**PS: I'm going to be busy for the next 2 weeks and the soon week because I'm a graduating pupil so I have a lot of things to take care of. I may not be able to update and all so.. yeah. =) **

**(Update date: February 10, 2013; Philippine times) **


	15. I Bare Hatred for that Bastard

**~Chapter 14 - I Bare Hatred for that Bastard~**

"What is Eve doing up there?!" Ren exclaimed.

"That's dangerous!" Hibiki added.

"It was you and your boss' doings, weren't it?!" Kaede grabbed the bald man's shirt, ready to punch him.

As shown on the communications lacrima, Eve is lying down on a plank with his feet, hands and body tied tightly to it! His mouth tied with cloth to prevent him from talking. What's more is that it looks like he is on a 4-story building and he has rope tied around his neck. Meaning to say he would die because of hanging if ever he would make a false move.

"That's dangerous, right?" he smirked. "Not only that, don't you see? The kid is still fast asleep. We heard that he would often move around his sleep. What if..-"

"Shut up or else I'll punch my way through your skull!" Kaede fiercely yelled.

"You're choice."

"He's bluffing," Lenalee crossed her arms. "He is not doing this because he wants to avenge a raped girl.."

Mentally, she hacked through a Telepathy communication. She could hear a manly voice from the other end of the magic. She concluded that whoever it is, it could be the leader.

"They're avenging their boss' older sister's broken heart," she continued.

"How'd you know that?!" the accused cried, demanding for an answer.

"You wanna find out? But I warn you, you might not like my answer."

"Tell me already!"

"Don't yell! Lenalee can hear you loud and clear!" Kaede exclaimed in front of his face.

"It's alright Kaede, anyway it would be better that way."

"_Kenneth, get out of there! The boss needs you now!_" says a worrying voice.

"_You're going to get hunted if you don't, idiot!_" a different voice added.

"I see.. So, why don't we let our visitor leave?" Lenalee said.

"What do you mean by that?!" Ren exclaimed opposing to Lenalee's decision. Then, promptly, her voice made it's way to his head saying, "Because we will quietly follow his guy back to their quarters." His face was a bit astonished. How did her voice ended up in his head? Is magic involve in it?

"Of course magic is involve!" her voice exclaimed. "I'm using Telepathy, duh!"

"Don't say anything about it or else this freaking guy will hear you," Kaede's voice entered.

"Just relax and we'll get Eve back, safely," Taiyoura's voice assured him.

Ren sighed. "But if we let this guy leave," he spoke. "What about Eve?"

His sentence sounded unsure of the Night Knights' plot. Like he doesn't trust them enough to be sure that Eve is coming back home safely or if they could really do the task.

It seemed that Taiyoura saw through his expression and mischievously smiled. "Gonna get some snacks!" she lied running to her room.

"What are you doing?" Hibiki called.

"Just like what I said, I'm getting some snacks!"

"Oh yeah! I still have something to buy, I need to run, bye!" Lenalee left through the entrance door.

"What the-?!"

"Just trust us," Lenalee mentally told Ren. "We know what we're doing."

"I hope so," Ren responded.

Kaede removed the handcuffs and harshly let the bald man leave by yelling at him. He went rushing through the door regaining his freedom.

"I sure hope you have a plan," Hibiki crossed his arms.

"Of course we do! Don't underestimate those who just left," Kaede smilingly assured the guys.

Their attention turned to the communications lacrima. The view was enough for them to see Eve's position. His surroundings looked like that of a construction site. And it started snowing.

"Say Hibiki, can you use your Archive magic to check on the weather today? It would make our work faster if you could," Kaede suggested.

"I'll try," the blonde pulled a chair and sat down. Snapping his fingers, his Archive screen appeared. Typing fast on the keyboard of his magic, a lot of results showed up.

"That's nose bleeding," Kaede comments.

"But not for him, Hibiki's an expert on this magic," Ren positively said.

"Not really," Hibiki said. "Anyway.. It's not snowing on this town but on 3 neighboring towns it is."

"You got that girls?" Kaede raised his pointer and middle finger then placed it on his temple.

"Roger!" Taiyoura and Lenalee said in unison.

"Hey," Ren called for Kaede. "How many magic does Lenalee posses?"

"Only two. Thunder Art magic and Telepathy, that's all.."

"I see.."

Lenalee commands, "Look closely is see if you find anything else that could help you tell which town he is in."

"We'll try," Hibiki cracked his fingers. "Tell me if you see anything guys." He readily placed his fingers on the board.

"The view of point changed!" Kaede said. "It's facing Eve side wards."

"Can you see the sky?"

"Yeah but not that much of it," Ren confirmed. "There are kites."

"It could be a kite festival," Taiyoura stated her opinion. "Look in on which town has celebrating one."

"I'm on it," Hibiki continues typing. After 30 seconds, a search result popped on the screen. "Tairina town is celebrating their kite festival! Eve is in Tairina town!"

"All right! Let's move it!" Kaede ran up to his room.

"Where are you going?"

"Getting some bag!" He dashed down with a black bag on hand. He quickly snatched the lacrima and gently placed it inside his bag. "How far is that town?"

"It's the farthest town among the three. About 45 minutes on train," Hibiki read the scrolling information.

"We need to get there fast!" Ren said.

"You got some magic motorcycles?" Kaede turned to Ren..

"No. But I know someone who can lend us some."

...

...

...

"Can you hear me, Hibiki," Lenalee said in a serious tone of voice.

"Clear enough," he replied.

On two different motorcycles, Hibiki and Ren speed down on a rocky road, inside a wide forest, to Tairina town. With SE plugs on their wrists, they try to move on as fast as possible and at the same time they're trying to avoid losing too much magic powers. They may need some in battle.

"You remember the plan I formulated earlier, right?"

"Yeah. What about it."

"New plan, they're going with you."

"You serious?"

"Oi Hibiki! What are you guys talking about there," Ren called, just across him.

"A new plan. It seems that they'll be joining us."

"And why is that? They don't have anything to do with our problem."

"Oh yes we do! Don't you remember that there is a big possibility that we might know who is culprit is? What is this guy uses some powerful magic and you won't be able to counter it, huh?" Lenalee scolded Ren. "That would put all of you 3 in danger."

"Right right, got it ma'am.."

"Just listen to me already. Alright, here is our plan..."

...

...

...

"That could work," Hibiki agreed. "It's better to have that kind of strategy. Why haven't you thought about that plan earlier?"

"It wasn't me who thought about it," Lenalee denied.

"Then who?" Ren asked. "Ah forget about that! Where are they?"

"They're already ahead of you both.. Have't you noticed?"

"For real?! Neither of us saw them, right, Hibiki?"

"Yeah. No sign of them," Hibiki sided with his teammate.

"That's because they took another route.. They both decided to get there earlier to scan the town. Taiyoura will contact me if ever they heard or found out something odd. And don't you dare lose those voice lacrima necklaces! They're gifts from a dear friend of ours!"

"Don't talk about these voice lacrimas now, Lenalee!" Ren told her strictly. "We've got a task to complete. And that is to save our friend from danger!"

Voice lacrima necklaces. A small diamond shaped lacrima that can transmit the voice of the holder of the main lacrima. Goes in set of 5, along with the main voice lacrima and it's 4 minion voice lacrimas. Commonly sold to those who can use Telepathy because they are more capable of using it through their magic. If charged with enough magic, it can be used in long distance communication. Depending on the holder of the main lacrima he or she can control on which lacrima they're going to talk with. Useful in private communications. The minion voice lacrimas can also communicate with each other but the main lacrima will produce the conversation, allowing the holder to know what they're talking about. It's chargeable with magical powers. Lenalee fills her voice lacrimas a lot often before entering the guild that's why it can be used in a very long distance but only for 10 minutes of talk. The others take responsibility in charging them with their magic powers once they've reach town.

"There it is!" Ren cried. "Tairina town!"

"Ok! Let charge in, Ren!" Hibiki speeds up. Ren follows him from behind.

...

...

...

"This town is pretty crowded if you ask me," Ren removes the SE plus from his wrist. "Many buildings and stalls too."

"Yeah," Hibiki nods. "But aside from that, don't you find it strange? There are a lot of women bringing children with them. Not to mention, you can hardly spot men around. Plus it's their kite festival, shouldn't the kids be somewhere off an open area and play?"

"Now that you pointed that one out, yeah, it is a bit strange."

Hibiki holds the voice lacrima between his thumb and pointer and says, "Lenale, we're here already. Where do we head?"

"Make sure your vehicles are parked somewhere appropriate, the main gate isn't a parking area," she reminds them.

"Right right, we get it. We'll do that later. But first tell us where to head next."

"Fine.. Taiyoura is still trying to find Eve's location. She's having a hard time searching for him because of the abundance of the houses and buildings."

"Eve's location appeared that of a contraction site, can't she spot any?" Ren questioned.

"No. There are no contraction sites in Tairina."

"Well can't you see anything from the communications lacrima that Kaede dropped by? There has to be a clue."

"Unfortunately, nothing at all. Nothing has changed on Eve's current state. He is already awake, that's all."

"Can he not move around?"

"Ren, his body is tied to the plank, how do you expect a kid to move around? Plus they must have tighten it so it's going to be painful.."

"Right. Almost forgot."

"There found him!" Taiyoura cried. "Found where Eve is!"

"Really where?" Hibiki asked.

"He is inside an abandoned building. On the outskirts of town. On the north."

"Roger that!"

The Hibiki and Ren jump on their motorcycles and places the SE plugs on.

"Be careful on your way here. And we'll follow the flow of the plan. Don't mess up you two."

"Of course we won't," Ren assured the worried dragon slayer.

Together, the men in suit speed from south to north.

"Just you wait, Eve. We'll be there!"

...

...

...

They park their magic motorcycles on the left side of the said abandoned building. Hibiki and Ren walk to the main door as caution as they can. Hibiki sneaks glances through the broken windows, observing that no one appears to be around. It made him feel suspicious about the area.

Ren stopped walking, "Alright. This is the end of my line, time to fly up. You know what to do, right Hibiki?"

"Yeah!" he nodded.

"Great. Taiyoura and Kaede are already in position. Just yell for help and one of them will be in your aid. I'll be get going now." With an open palm, an air magic seal makes it entrance. Then an air bubble levitates Ren up to the top of the building.

Hibiki took a deep breath, "Hope this would work out well."

"Don't worry! It will!" Taiyoura suddenly cheered him up. "Just like what Ren said, call us and we'll be there."

"Thanks Taiyoura-chan."

"No problem!" she cuts the communication.

Facing the door, Hibiki puts on a serious face. He pushed the door open reveling the insides of the building. The wall has a lot of cracks, there is a staircase leading to the upper floor and two small empty rooms without doors on the sides. He gently closes the door then said, "I know you're there. Reveal yourself, coward!"

"My my, such strong words for a guy who can't fight well in battle," the male voice answered. Footsteps from the staircase made noise. A black-haired guy wearing a black suit, with green eyes, came down. "Welcome to our little hide out."

"Such a rotten place for a hide out."

"Now now, don't be such a hot head," he shoved his left hand inside his pocket.

"Who wouldn't? You kidnapped an innocent 16-year-old kid. And what's more, he is from a legal guild."

"I don't care if he is or not. Either way, all I want is to gain my revenge for my late sister."

"Whoever she is, I'm sure I haven't met her before."

He clenches a fist, "What did you say?!"

"You heard me, I said I'm sure I haven't met your sister before."

The unnamed culprit charges to Hibiki landing a hard punch on his face. The Archive wizard falls down hard on the ground. By his shirt, he grabbed on Hibiki and is ready to land a punch on his face again. "Say that again and I'll hit you hard this time," he threatened him.

Hibiki kept quiet..

"Hmph. Thought that I'd forget, huh. The way that you engaged into a relationship with Akiko, the way that she fell in love with you. The way that you both stare at each other. And, the way you broke up with her. I'm not at the age of forgetting such things."'

"You've crossed the line, Yuuma!" a female voice from one of the empty rooms proclaimed. A sudden appearance of an arm made of thunder speeds across the room. It grabbed hold of Yuuma and raised him high in the air.

"T-This spell! Don't tell me..!" he panicked.

Taiyoura walked out from her hiding place with a mad look printed on her face. She is raising her arm, which is the source of the spell, in order to hold Yuuma high up. Her left arm is being wrapped by yellow thunder, the same thunder that holds the culprit. "You've done enough trouble young man," she said in a mad voice tone.

"You know each other?" Hibiki asked, puzzled.

"Yeah. This guy is named Yuuma Kudo. The brother of Akiko Tsuji. You've heard about it right? The clans where we the Night Knights came from because of your research about us days ago."

"Not that much actually. We did research on your team but we weren't able to finish it because of several reasons."

"I see. Anyway, if your confused, this guy is not blood related to Kaede. He simply bears the name because he is part of it. Same goes for his sister."

"Let me go, Taiyoura! I need my revenge!" Yuuma demanded.

"You're wrong Yuuma! He is not the person whom you should seek revenge on."

"What?! What do you mean?"

"You've mistaken him for a different person, that's what."

"You're lying. You're a liar! I thought you wanted justice for my sister, and yet what are you doing?! You're taking his side!"

"That's because you're wrong! He is not that guy! They may look the same but they are a total different person! I know that."

Yuuma went silent. He looked away in shame.

"Surrender peacefully and no one will be harmed."

...

...

...

He walked up to Taiyoura and said, "Hey, thanks for saving me earlier. Almost got a punch there."

"No problem," she replied. "Anyway we're friends, right? Friends help each other so no worries."

"Am, just one question, if you don't mind me asking but ugh.. Who is that person Yuuma was talking about earlier. You know, the guy whom he wants to revenge on. Who was it?"

Taiyoura stopped. She paused in silence for awhile..

"If you don't want to answer, just keep it a secret from me. Don't want to bring you bad memories-"

"Akiko Tsuji is our dear friend back at the clan," she explained. "She is a gentle girl. Her hair, eyes and face made her one of the wanted omai partner in the Kudo clan. Then came the time when several girls, along with Akiko, won a program. They were permitted to leave the clan for a year and come back at the exact date they left. We heard that while they were away, Akiko fell in love with someone and had a relationship with him. But one day, the guy broke up with her because of unexplained reasons. Akiko became drunk that day. And by the next morning, she didn't knew what happened the night before but she woke up naked in some guy's room. The next thing she realized, she was raped. She was placed in deep depression since that moment of her life. None of the girls knew what hit her that she chose to suicide a week after."

"Oh, I see.."

"And the guy she fell in love with and had a relationship with was.. Leo Loke, a Celestial Spirit. Leo, the Lion. I bare hatred for that bastard."

* * *

**A/N: FINISH! Finally.. I had to use my vacant time to write this one down. Glad I'm done! **

**Like this chapter? Please read and review in case if there are any mistakes or if you like the idea of this chapter. **

**Also, hope you like the climax of Loke being the boyfriend of Akiko. Back at the Loke arc, there were several women who said they were Loke's girlfriends, right? Yeah.. Kinda used that one for this. Oh my gwash, please don't kill me Loke fans!**

**And about the new plan thingy, it's actually simple. Ren goes and save Eve while Hibiki distracts the boss because Lenalee made this kinda of prediction that he would wait for his "target". Kaede and Taiyoura would back them up whenever they need help. Where ever the setting is, Lenalee is positive that their plan would work. =)**

**(Updated: February 17, 2013; Philippine time)**


	16. Our Soon Farewell and Secret Plan

**~Chapter 15 - Our Soon Farewell and Secret Plan~**

"Huh?" he arched an eyebrow. "What's with the mirror?"

"Don't tell me," she said.

Taiyoura, standing on the second floor of the building, aims for the mirror that is blocking their view of the top. It is as wide as the room and somehow, looks like Yuuma's gang manage to make it stick to the walls.

Hibiki on the other hand, observes her actions. "Thunder Dragon's Feather Wing," a yellow magic seal appears on her back. In a blink of an eye, a pair of yellow angel wings suddenly appears, connected to her back.

"Woah," the Archive wizard says in amusement. "That's new."

"It's a modified spell," she turned to him. "'A book of dragon spells helped me learn it. It has two modes actually.."

"And..?"

"The defense mode is called 'Protection of the Wings' while the offense mode is 'A Thousand Feathers'. If you're wondering, I can't fly with this spell. Okay?"

"Amazing. Are you a mind reader? I was about to ask a question about flying with that thing."

She chuckles. The light bluenette's attention turns back to the wide mirror. "A thousand feathers!" The feathers on her back speed forward to the mirror, breaking it into billions of shinning pieces. It was like glitters in the air slowly falling down. But unfortunately, these glitters can hurt someone's skin.

Hibiki covers his eyes from the falling sharp objects. After a minute that there were no more falling, he looked up. Seeing Ren and Kaede inside Ren's Levitation spell, with Eve sleeping on Kaede's back, he smiled in relief. Both men were looking down on them with beams on their faces. "Looks like their done with the work," he turned to the female dragon slayer.

"Yeah," she agreed, nodding. "And that means, work is done."

"But, what do we do with Yuuma? He has to face the consequences of his actions."

"I know.." Taiyoura's face looks down on the ground. Inside herself, she knows that the guy just misunderstood Hibiki as Loke. She understands that both males look a like.. a little. No matter how much she wants to reason that Yuuma just misunderstood and that hoping they'd understand the guy's feelings, she hesitates to say anything about it. He committed a crime and he has to pay the price!

"You're not ready to bring him to the authorities, are you?" Hibiki asked sounding concerned.

"It's not that it's just.. not that easy for my to turn on my own friend. Especially that his sister is one of our dear friends."

"I understand, don't worry. But, if you ask as to overlook this incident, I don't think someone, except from your team, would agree to that."

"I wouldn't. Don't worry... Just a favor, can you turn him to the authorities without my presence. I don't want to see it."

"Sure! Anything from a lady like you.."

"You can cut the flirty words already."

"Right right."

Kaede and Ren land on solid ground, popping the air bubble.

"Shall we head back to the guild now?" Kaede asked the others. "This kid is a bit heavy you know. Can't carry him for long."

"He fell asleep again?" Taiyoura asked, looking at the cute sleeping Snow wizard.

"Uh-huh," Ren nodded. "He was probably tired from all this. I learned that they took him around last night, emptying his magic power."

"That's hard."

"Ugh, guys.. Were you listening to me? I really want to go now," Kaede said.

"Right, right, we'll go now. Say, Ren, Hibiki, can you turn Yuuma to the authorities while we take Eve back to the guild?"

"Yuuma..? You mean, Yuuma from Kudo clan?!"

"Y-Yeah.."

"Why? Did he said anything about his reasons of doing this act?"

"We'll talk about it later, right now this guy needs a lot of rest."

...

...

...

Riding on a green magic vehicle, the two Night Knights travel from Tairina town back to Blue Pegasus. They're are not trying to be too fast but not two slow either. With Kaede on the driver's seat, with a SE plug on his wrist, he tries to maintain an average speed. Inside the vehicle, Eve sleeps on Taiyoura's thighs with her light-colored blazer as his pillow. She gently touches the blonde's hair, sliding her hand downwards.

Eve slowly opens his eyes with an 'ughh' sound. With his eyes half open, he asks, "Where am I?"

"It's alright Eve," Taiyoura assured Eve. "You're safe now. We're currently heading back to the guild."

"T-Taiyoura-san? Is that you," he tires to face her but she stops him.

"You need to rest. By the time you wake up, I promise we will be in the guild already."

Eve nods and closes his eyes again. A few minutes later, he is already fast asleep.

Taiyoura sighed. Not in an irritated manner but in a relief way. She is relieved to know that Yuuma and his gang did't hurt Eve that much. If so, she does not know what to do. Will she still pity him or hurt him in a way that he would learn a lesson? But she can't possibly hurt him. Knowing that they've known each other for years already. It's hard to hurt a friend though he is on the wrong side.

"I never thought he could use his magic well now," she thought. "He could use his Illusion magic well that he even deceived me with the building. From a far it looked like it was a 4-story building! Guess you can not really trust things that you can see with naked eyes. I have to improve my sensory skills! Speaking of improving my skill.."

_FLASHBACK _

"You will have to return at the exact same date as today," the head mistress firmly instructs the Knights. "If you do not, the administration will have no choice but to send several of the wizards to find you and bring you back by force. Remember what will happen if one of your outside friends will hesitate on handing you over."

The Night Knights place their right hand on their chests and says, "Yes! Head mistress!"

"Good. You may now leave. Don't forget to bring souvenirs!" she jokes.

_END OF FLASHBACK _

"Time sure runs fast when you're having fun," she chuckles to herself. "Soon we will have to leave for home.."

"So it has been a year then, huh," Lenalee's voice snickered.

Taiyoura clipped her thumb and pointer finger on the voice lacrima necklace, around her neck, as replies, "I know right. We stayed for months in Lune town that we forgot to join a guild. We then spent two weeks to get here."

"Then the day before the Night Party we will have to leave, or else both the headmaster and the head mistress will scold us three. Though it's nice to be scolded by either of them. They're fun to talk with."

"Exactly! I still remembered doing all those naughty stuff and ended up getting scolded by the headmistress every week. Then I headed to the detention which sucked a bit."

"Of course detention sucks, duh!" Kaede babbled in. "Do you know how it sucks to stay in one room and you'll only be given one comic book to read! Then once you've exit the small room, you'll find out that there are tons of quizzes and practical exams you missed so you have to take special tests!"

"Thank you Kaede, though I believe that my actions were not that similar to your actions, all you did was mess around every guy you could see with Lenalee," Taiyoura pointed out.

There was this one time that Kaede punched a guy's face because he misunderstood a whisper for a kiss on the neck. They guy's lips were close to Lenalee's neck that someone would really misunderstand it.

"Okay enough talking," Lenalee dropped the topic. "Anyway, when should we tell them."

"I guess we shouldn't," Kaede opposed. "Remember that reminder the headmistress gave us? No one, seriously no one, from out outside friends hesitate to left us leave or hand us over to the clans. They'd be in trouble. Real trouble girls!"

"So, is that a 'no'?" Taiyoura asked. "But in my opinion, it's best to give a formal goodbye instead of leaving so soon. And did you forget about the rent? We can't just leave it unpaid you know."

"We know that, missie. We could use the money we got from the last mission which was days ago."

"I agree with Kaede," Lenalee said. "Even if we do pay our rent at 100,000 jewels, we would still have enough money to travel back to Sole town."

"Well, if that's what you both like then I'll go with it," Taiyoura said turning silent. "But about the formal goodbye. What do we do with that?"

"Still think we shouldn't tell them," Kaede repeated his opinion.

"But wouldn't they fell bad about it?"

"Don't worry, they've only knew us for days! They wouldn't miss us that much. Besides, there are a lot of people in the guild so it'd be easy to forget us!"

"How cruel of you."

"Hey, just saying."

"Well for me, I'd think about the future. Soon, weeks after we would arrive there, they would hold the Grand Departure exams of the students. We could pass it this time and then come back here," Lenalee suggested.

"That's possible," Taiyoura said. "Nice one Lenalee!"

"But still, even if we talk about this one now, it's still firm. Our soon farewell that is," Kaede sadly pointed out the truth. "Just a few more days."

"Then why don't we make use of those days?" Lenalee, on the other hand, cheerfully said. "We'll do something about our close friends and leave them with memories."

"And how exactly?"

"Simply. We'll use 3 to 4 days on my plan. But you two have to listen carefully."

"I'm all ears."

"Same here," Taiyoura said.

"Okay, so, here is that we will do.."

* * *

**A/N: Sound mischievous to yah? Hehe! I'm finally done with this one! Took some time, really. **

**Anyway, I would like to encourage everyone to please read my other new story, Code 07: The Blooming Lotus. It's only connected to the anime and not the manga because the manga is damn too long! Recently, chapter 210 has been released and I randomly started in chapter 59. Soo yeah, I still have a lot to read in CODE:BREAKER. But please read and review. It will be highly appreciated. THANK YOU!**

**(Updated: Feb. 20, 2013) **


	17. Kaede to Ren: How to Court a Girl

**~Chapter 16 - Kaede to Ren: How to Court a Girl!~**

"Oi, tsunie," Kaede called from behind. "How is Eve doing?"

Ren didn't answer, pretending not to hear him.

"Tsunie~ Are you listening?"

He remains silent..

Kaede sighed. "Hey Ren, can I have a moment with you?" he asked politely.

Ren became astonished. "_Since when did this guy became so polite?_" he thought to himself.

"Please?"

"_I have a bad feeling about this.._" Ren turned his head around, looking at Kaede, eye-to-eye. "What do you need?" he said sounding not so polite.

"Can we talk in private?"

"Huh? What for?"

"Just wanted to have a man to man talk with you."

At a near table, a woman with blonde hair secretly eavesdrop on the wizards' conversation. Thinking it might be a scoop for a new gossip. She smirks. Anna Sunshine, Blue Pegasus' gossip girl. A fashion freak who just loves to eavesdrop on any topic worth for a new and hot gossip. Her daily attire is a red fitted dress, red high-heel shoes and she wears a red bangle on her right wrist. Her blue eyes stares at Ren and Kaede, looking at their facial expressions.

Some people find her annoying, just like Jenny. Months ago both women argued on one guy, and that's no other than, Hibiki Laytis himself. Anna spread the gossip that Jenny and Hibiki planned to have a one-night-stand in a far hotel to increase their popularity. Both parties, Hibiki and Jenny, were seriously not pleased with her doings. But the conflict between the two groups was resolved by the master. Up until now, they haven't talked to each other.

"Hmm," she hummed. "I wonder.."

"Can we talk upstairs?" Kaede continued.

"Guess it can't be helped then, after all I did hear from the girls that you can be an annoying guy who asks this and that," Ren added with a slight sneer.

Kaede got irritated. "Gee, thanks girls," he mentally said with a twitching eyebrow.

Ren got up from his seat and started walking to the second floor of the guild building. Kaede followed him from behind.

Both men got to the designated room. Kaede, since he was the last person to enter, closed the door slowly shut.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" Ren leaped on the sofa. "It better be worth it to talk about."

"How do you court girls?" Kaede promptly asked.

Startled by the question, Ren paused for a while. "Wha- Huh?" he sweat dropped.

"How do you court girls?" Kaede repeated.

"W-Why are you asking such a question?"

Kaede's face dropped. He walked to the window and stared into the sky for a moment. "You do know that I'm currently dating Lenalee right?" he asked the tsundere. "It's about that."

"Don't tell me that she broke your status?" Ren places his hands behind his neck. He gazed at the somewhat emoting wizard.

"No. It's just that," his sighed broke his statement.

"It's just that?" Ren repeated his words. "What?"

"Our dating status was just arranged.."

Ren kept quiet, wanting to hear more about it.

"From were we, the Night Knights, came from, a boy from the clan and a girl from the opposite clan get to be engage. But, however, if someone from the two oppose to be directly engage with someone they don't love, the couple are given 2 to 5 months to develop their feelings for each other. And that's where two people will be considered dating. In Lenalee and my case, it was I who opposed to be engaged to Lenalee. I mean sure we've known each other for years already but I did that because I wasn't sure Lenalee would go for it. And since something came up, the 2 to 5 months was extend.."

Ren nods. Thinking about the situation, he comes up with a question, "So you want to learn how to court girls because you want Lenalee to fall for you?"

"Yeah, somewhere like that."

"Well that would be easy. You act as her type of guy."

"But I don't know her type of guy..!" he reasoned.

"What?! You two knew each other for years yet you don't know her type? What a friend are you..?"

"I don't but into that kind of topic. Lenalee hates being asked by that question, especially if it came from a guy. She'll think that I'm trying to earn her heart if I ask. She's clever enough to know."

"Then how about Taiyoura?"

"Huh? Why did we ended up talking about Taiyoura?"

"Taiyoura must have asked her that question. Shouldn't you ask her?"

"Yeah it could be possible that she knows but when it comes to those topics, she has the same brain as Lenalee."

"Then it's going to be a hard task, if you ask me."

"Oh really?" Kaede leans on the wall with arms crossed. A confident smile appears on his face. "Then tell me, how do you three manage to make every girl fall for you just after flirting?"

"Ugh well.. it's team work! The three of us do it together so.."

"Then does that mean one cannot work without the two around? I doubt."

Ren got silent, not knowing what to answer. "Fine then! I'll give you a piece of advice!" he finally said.

"Hehe, been waiting for that," the Amaterasu wizard giggled.

"If you're going to try to court a girl, my best advice is to be yourself."

"Huh?!"

"Let me finish.. Because if you do act yourself in front of her basically that would mean your just showing you true color. You're not hiding anything about you, you're just you yourself. That's how we charm girls."

"What a lame advice."

"Then you shouldn't have asked me! Plus what kind of thanks is that for?!"

"Another question."

"_The heck is with him?! He said my advice is lame so why is he still going to ask?!_"

"What if you act yourself yet the girl doesn't fall for you and falls for another guy?"

"Then push yourself into her. Respect her heart's decision. After all, you can't control one's heart like a toy. Guys have to respect girls' feelings and same goes with the girls."

"I see.."

"So? What's you're comment? Going to say it's lame again?"

"Nope, not this time. Going to say it's double lame."

Ren pretended not to hear the "double lame" and just pulled his anger back. He might hit the, in his language, stupid bastard hard if he would not control himself.

Kaede sighed, "I know you want to hit me, so do it."

Ren punches Kaede's left cheek fast making him fly across the room. "You idiot, a person gave his sincere advice to you yet you're saying they're lame?!" he complains.

Kaede sits up straight, "A person is giving his sincere remarks too!"

Standing in front of the door, Anna's invisible body remains immovable. Then she sighed in disappointment, "What lame guys. Fighting just because of a stupid advice comment. Hmph! I better leave then." She quietly opens the door while the boys continue their fight. Silently, she closed the door.

"So how was it?" Jenny said from Anna's back. "Was it a good source of gossip?"

"Hmph. Why are you suddenly interested?"

"Just wanted to be the first one to know about your latest gossip, girl. So that I can confirm it directly from the source themselves."

"That gives me more of a reason not to tell you about it, Realight!"

Sparks of rivalry cracks between the girls' faces. Feeling very pissed off by the presence of one another.

...

...

...

In the Night Knights' rented house..

"You had a fight with him?!" Lenalee asked in disbelief. "And yet I thought you were going to make peace with him."

"I was but he hit me hard," he said in a childish way. He "ouched" while Taiyoura treats his wounds. "Bare with it. It was your fault that you ended up in a fight with Ren anyway."

"Like I said he started it..!"

"But you must have said something that upset him," Lenalee counterattacked. "That's why he punched you."

Kaede turned his head to the left avoiding Lenalee's eyes.

"See? You were _really _the cause of your fight."

"I admit it..!"

Lenalee crosses her arms. She sighed.

"What are you going to scold me again?"

She chuckles then pats Kaede's head, "You're so childish really. Doing things in your own little way just make people either get mad at you or just laugh about it. I wonder how you were raised by the headmaster, Kaede.."

Kaede smiled. "Can I ask a question from you?"

"Hmm? What?"

"Can you translate the word **saranghae **for me? I forgot the meaning of it."

"Aren't you listening in the Foreign Language class? It means 'I love you'-"

"Love you too," Kaede winked.

Thinking back, Lenalee turns red. "You fox! You did that on purpose, didn't you?" she asked still blushing.

"Could be or could be not! Hehe!"

Just looking at the two continue to argue, Taiyoura kept quiet and enjoyed the moment. She felt nostalgic. Before, the two would argue and argue because of either Kaede's or Lenalee's actions. She remembered that she was always the peacemaker but this time, the peacemaker would like to sit back and watch the love birds have their "Love Quarrel".

* * *

**A/N: Was bored and I had nothing to do so I wrote this one up.. To be honest with you guys I was expecting to write the next chapter by next week since I need to focus on my incoming exams but I told myself that it would be a waste if I don't write a chapter after reading an awesome chapter from a story. **

**Anyway did you like the low-cheesiness of the chapter? Please leave a remark/review! It would highly appreciated if you review your reactions and/or if I have wrong grammars. **

**I wanted to make it more cheesy but I have a better plan in mind.. It's going to make you guys go "Ayeeee!" on it! **

**Please look forward for the next chapter because a dip of cheesiness is going to happen. Especially once the characters will gather in a particular place. **

**See you next time!**

**(Updated: Feb. 23, 2013)**

**Lots of love,  
TTK**


	18. I Thought Our Privacy Would be Respected

**~Chapter 17 - I Thought Our Privacy Would be Respected~**

Around 8:30 pm, same day. Somewhere in town..

"Hmmm," she hummed staring at the display of dresses in each dress shop. "Ah!" Jenny stopped. She admired the peach prom dress that is currently on 40% off sale. "Should I? I would look nice on that one."

"You'd look good in any dress, Jenny," Hibiki complimented as he approach her.

"Well, if it isn't Hibiki. So? How'd it go?"

"Hmm? The what?"

She chuckles, "Don't play as if you don't know, mister. Master requested you right? To further observe the Night Knights. Has there been any troubles lately?"

"Oh, that.. No troubles. Just that we've take note that each of them has this strong and brave side of theirs. And what is interesting are their histories. You wouldn't believe what we learned about them. It's quite sad actually. All three of them."

"Eh, is that so? I'd like to hear about it," she said getting interested due to her curiosity.

"So, would you care to join me while I walk to my place?" he asked politely. He raised his palm waiting for the beauty to response to his offer.

"Of course!" she laid her hand onto his.

Gently, he bowed to her hand and laid a kiss on it. Jenny, touched by his actions, warmly smiled to him.

"Let's go?"

From a distance, on a narrow and dark aisle, Taiyoura quietly stalks both her superiors. Leaning on the wall with arms crossed, she glares at the street. Hibiki and Jenny pass by without noticing her presence. Using her enhanced hearing ability as a dragon slayer, she invades their conversation's privacy. She mentally talked to herself, "Please no. Please don't talk about those stuff, please..!"

"Which one do you want to start hearing about, Jenny?" he asked politely.

"Hmm, I guess that light bluenette girl. She seems interesting to me," she answered.

"Taiyoura, huh. Well from our observation she is the type of person who really hates to be awaken because of reasons what are not enough to please her. Like for instance when her group mates woke her up because Eve got kidnapped-"

"What? Eve-kun got kidnapped?! Why haven't I heard of that?"

"Well, I'll explain later.."

"Okay, if you say so."

"Now, back to Taiyoura. She eventually found the reason not enough to wake her up. So she slammed the door and to her bed once again."

"Sounds a nasty type of girl to me.."

"One can say that but soon she went on to investigate on herself. She must haven been guilty of her early actions.

And to her history, it's not that complicated but painful. Her step-dad, Fulminis the Thunder Dragon, her mentor, disappeared in the year X777, July 7. No different from what happened to the other dragon slayers' parents. She wondered days in the wide forest and found a town. As a kid who grew up in the forest, everything in the town was new to her, except the clothing and food though. Taiyoura has good observation skills when she was a child. After looking at several stores she learned about money. A day passed since she reached the town, she was adopted by Eri Tsuji, the headmistress of the Tsuji clan."

"Tsuji clan? You mean Tsuji isn't actually her real surname?"

"Nope. Actually, her real name is Kazerina Sora. It is the policy of the clan to keep the girls' identity a secret from the public so the girls get to have any name they desire as their first name and have Tsuji as their surname."

"I see.."

"AH! Now I remember! Did you know that she is quite an acrobat. She can swing from tree to tree with no problems what all. She also has his hobby of sleeping on a tree's branch. But it's the kind of branch that can hold a person, not a thin branch of course."

Jenny nodded like she is saying that is listening attentively.

"Shall we proceed to Kaede then?"

"If you want to, I'll be listening."

"Alright. Kaede is currently 21 now. He is very playful when he wants to be but on the other hand he can very serious as well. He acted concern for Eve earlier. And when desperate, he would do anything to get an answer from a guilty party. And according to Ren, he asked about how to court a girl because he wants Lenalee to fall for him."

"I don't know this Lenalee and Kaede person, would you please fill me in?"

"Alright. Kaede has black hair and blue eyes. As tall as Ren too. While Lenalee has long deep blue hair and violet eyes."

"Okay then, continue about Kaede please."

"Kaede Kudo is not his real name too."

"Don't tell me, is it similar to Kazerina's situation?"

"Uh-huh. Same. His real name is Ryuu Takishima. Son of a former business man. They were originally rich but his father's company got bankrupted. Slowly, they got low on funds. Too low that they even sold their house and lot to pay for their debts. What's more is that both his parents died in a accident while travelling from a town to Magnolia. The authorities said it was a miracle that Kaede actually lived. The headmaster of the Kudo clan is name Mao Kudo, a close friend of the headmistress of the Tsuji clan, was also a close friend of his mother. He adopted him and took care of him. The two are quite close."

"Hmm, interesting.. Then, how about that Lenalee girl?"

"Lenalee, huh.. Well Lenalee is, from our observation, the one who acts mature between the three of them. Taiyoura can be playful and so is Kaede. Lenalee takes stuff seriously for unknown reasons though. As for her history, we found out nothing but the fact that she was left on a person's doorstep as a baby. By the age of, I think 9 or 10, her step-family confessed that she is an adopted child. She responded plainly saying, 'Okay..' But then came the time that the family can no longer support her that they gave her to Eri Tsuji. She was fine about it because she does understand the family's situation. My theory is that the family must have been composed of a lot of children. With a lot of mouths to feed, it would really be hard especially if the family is poor."

"Ohh.. So basically, you're thinking that Lenalee came from a poor family but then was taken in by this Eri person."

"Well somewhere close to that."

"Ok.. Do you have more interesting facts in store in your brain, Hibiki..?" she asks in a somehow, cute way.

"I do have some!" his face lits up. "Did you know that Kaede is a big fan of the Weekly Sorcerer? He would make sure that he would get a weekly copy of each edition. He gets pissed off when someone tells him not to buy it because of some articles maybe. Lenalee is not a peaceful sleeper. Out of nowhere, she would hug anything or anyone beside her. But it's not that she kicks or punches anything while asleep though. And that Taiyoura likes-!"

Jenny gave him a puzzled look, "Hibiki what's wrong?"

He hits his forehead with his right palm. "How stupid of me?!" he angrily said to himself. "I forgot that Taiyoura hates people getting into her history!"

"And why would that be?"

"I think it's as far as you can hear about her past, Jenny. Sorry."

"If it's that important then, okay. I'll not bother you about it."

"Thanks for understanding, Jenny. That's one of the things I like about you."

Jenny blushes.

But, unfortunately, long before Hibiki told the beautiful wizard that Taiyoura hates people knowing her history, she has already quit stalking them and left with a very pissed and angry mood. As her path, she jumped over rooftops as quick as she could.

...

...

...

She opened the door, panting.

"Ah! Taiyoura, welcome back!" Kaede smiles at her as he places the last plate in place. "Did you bought the dress you wanted?"

"No..!" she instantly replied.

Kaede noticed that the dragon slayer's voice seems different. Like it's not the friendly Taiyoura his talking to. But his talking to the opposite Taiyoura.

"What happened?" Lenalee walked down from the stairs, sounding concerned. "Did a fight occur."

"No," she closed the door. "But if I see his face again, there might be one! I seriously thought our privacy would be respected and yet..!"

"Don't worry. Whoever he is, you won't be able to see him. I was just contacted by the headmistress. She said she needs us back at the clans by tomorrow morning. Meaning to say.."

"Meaning to say we need to leave by midnight, right?" Kaede continued for her.

"Exactly."

"Then let's pack! We'll leave as soon as everyone in the town is asleep. But we will stop by Tsukiko-san's home to pay for the days rent."

"Agreed."

Kaede turns his head to Taiyoura. He feels something fishy. Odd and fishy. He just couldn't tell what but there really is.

* * *

**A/N: They are leaving~! I'm so happy I could finally do _that_ plot. The... thing! Whatevies, it's a secret! **

**Anyway did you like this chapter? I did this so that the Night Knights' histories and few facts would be exposed. I know that some of you guys are already wondering so, here it is! Hope you liked this one as much as you like the other chapters. **

**Happy March 1 people! I don't why I'm celebrating it but I just feel like doing it. Troll!**

**(Updated: March 1, 2013)**


	19. Clan Sweet Clan!

**~Chapter 18 - Clan Sweet Clan!~**

1:34 am.. The Night Knights quietly walk their way to the train station. Everything remains as quiet as ever. All they could hear is the chilly breeze passing by, touching their cheeks, and the sound of the girls' trolleys. The noise of rustling leaves responded to the air's movements.

While Kaede childishly tip-toe, the girls calmly move along the road. He has his hands forming guns and acts like he is on high alert of any human movements besides his companions'. "Psst!" he hissed, calling Lenalee's attention.

"What?" the girl looked back at him, as she is walking a head of the guy. "Anything wrong?"

"Nothing just wanted to make sure you guys are fine and normal. You haven't said anything since we left the house earlier so.. just concerned."

"We're fine Kaede, promise. Everything is fine here. But what about you? Acting a child and all, bending your back like that. Are you sure you won't get anything from doing that?"

"Don't worry, a gunner knows how to handle situations like these," he replied, pointing his "guns" at her.

Lenalee chuckled. She finds it funny and cute seeing him act like that. The bluenette goes back to concentrating on their path. Don't want to stumble on a rock or anything and then create noise.

Taiyoura is walking ahead of the two wizards. With lacrima headphones on, she quietly listens to rock music. And at some point, she thinks back at the earlier event..

_FLASHBACK_

Humming happily while strolling on the pretty lit town, Taiyoura looks at the different colored lights shinning on the street.

She looks ahead of her and sees Jenny, observing something through the window. She laid her right hand on her chest then exhaled. "Alright!" she said, feeling pumped up. "Today I'll make friends with her!" As she approach her, a confident smile runs through her face. But then, her eyes caught the sight of Hibiki walking to the blonde beauty. Quickly, Taiyoura hid herself in a narrow aisle, a bit distant from the two blonde-heads.

"Eeeekkk! I wonder what they'll talk about," she smirked out of the so-called "fangirling." "Is it their love lives, oh I hope it is!" Her imaginations space off.. Like a time machine vision, she imagines Jenny in a wedding gown and Hibiki in his wedding suit. Both getting married and all. But her "perfect" imagination was cut when she heard, using her enhanced hearing abilities, the word _histories._

It worried her. "Oh no! I forgot that the Trimens are researching stuff about us!" she mentally panicked. "Please don't tell her anything, please Hibiki please!"

They passed by her with the same sentences in the dragon slayer's head.

But unfortunately, for her, Hibiki did share what he knows about the Night Knights' histories to Jenny. Especially hers. Not to mention it was the first one to be told. It angered her. "If they did research on us properly, we did he do that?!" she thought bitterly and angrily. "They dug up information about us, right?! Why doesn't he know!?" She punched the near wall and it created a small crater.

The light bluenette stalked her superiors for a while. When she finally had enough from listening, she escaped using the rooftops. Taiyoura jumped from one building to another and finally got back to their temporary residence.

_END OF FLASHBACK_

She sighed.. Taiyoura tilted her head to the sky and saw the twinkling stars. Like Christmas lights of the same color. She was happily enjoying the sight, but shook her head, and kept a straight face again. The Night Knights continue their walk.

As soon as they reached the train station, they notice that there are also a lot of people wanting to board the train late at this hour. Women with their children, men that looked like they're off to work, and couples, it seems. With their baggage, purses, hand bags, and backpacks.

"Wow," Kaede said in amusement. "Never knew that many people travels at this late hour too. Wonder where they're going."

"Probably somewhere beneficial to them," Lenalee answered. "Like that couple over there. I'm guessing that they're going to visit some friends, or have a date in another town. And see those men at that corner? Judging by their looks their off to a job that has connections to physical strength. Those clothes does seem like it."

"Ohh~"

"Shall we move on then?" Taiyoura walks ahead.

The three got on the train together. They choose the seat closest to the door. Taiyoura sat right next to the window and Lenalee joined her. As for Kaede, he sat in the seat across the girls.

"I'm still a bit sleep, you know," he yawned. The male wizard rubbed his eyes trying to remove his sleepiness.

"Want to sleep on my shoulder?" Lenalee offered him.

"Yeah, sure!" his face lit up with happiness. "I knew Lenalee cares for me~"

"Yeah, right." The Thunder Art wizard sat next to her male companion. Kaede slowly lands his head on her left shoulder and instantly doze off without snoring. Lenalee combed his hair with her fingers, "He really looks so childish whenever this happens."

"Yeah just like before," Taiyoura said. "Years ago, he would often fall asleep on either your shoulders or lap when we're done playing. You would too fall asleep on his head when he's sleeping on your shoulder."

Lenalee blushes, "Ugh.. Yeah, haha! Nostalgic isn't it?"

The light bluenette looked out of the window. Funny, it felt weird to her. Earlier the station was filled with people and now there is no sign of one outside. But, what really bothers her is their unexpected action. They haven't told anyone, but Tsukiko-san, about their leave. When Master Bob doesn't know. "Well, at least, this is better," she sighed. "Anyway, sooner or later, they'd forget about us. Maybe by the time when we're finally free without limitations from the clan, we'd join another guild. ... Guess.."

She stopped thinking about it and decided to sleep as well. With her head leaning on the wall beside her, Taiyoura crossed her arms and closed her eyes.

Lenalee smiled at her. "Taiyoura.." she thought. "I don't know what happened earlier, but I do hope that you could find it in your heart to forgive whoever that person is. Your grudge is deadly, you know. And lucky you, the headmistress called us by the time you began to hold a grudge. Time is on your side, huh."

...

...

...

"SOLE! SOLE! SOLE!" one of the staff cried, signaling that they've arrived to town Sole. "Is anyone coming down?"

Kaede feels like something is bothering him. Shaking him. His eyes flickered. He moans, "What?"

"It's our cue to leave, Kaede," Taiyoura messes his hair. "We've arrived."

In an instant, Kaede was filled with excitement. He jumped off his seat and yells, "ALRIGHT! Let's go~!"

"Kaede, be quiet! There are sleeping people!" Lenalee scolded him.

"Ah, sorry."

The Night Knights got their things and got off the train. As soon as they stepped out of the steaming vehicle, they all took a deep breath. It made them feel good and nostalgic. It has almost been a year since they've lived in Sole town again. It brought back the memories.

"OKAY!" Taiyoura energetically said, face both her teammates. "We're back at last! How about we make this a surprise for everyone, hm?"

"Now that you've mention it, maybe the headmistress hasn't told anyone about our advance homecoming, right?" Kaede's face lit up and a big smile was carved on his face.

"Could be," Lenalee agreed. "But it could also be that she has."

"Now now, Lenalee, don't break the mood."

"I'm now the mood breaker?"

"Kind of~"

"Brilliant.."

Taiyoura slightly panicked. At this rate, the two may end up in a fight. She must prevent it from happening! "A-AH! What do you say if we visit our friends in town before we head to the clans, neh?"

The other two agreed with her. "_YES! Mission success!_" she mentally celebrates.

And so, just like as planned, the Night Knights made a quick stop to their friends in the town.

Sole town is a big place. It is shaped like a dumbbell. Two circles being connected by a single line. When one visits Sole they would arrive first in town, the front circle. And if they would want to visit the clans, they would walk their way there using a path straight to them. And at the edge, or the last circle, they'll see buildings which are the Tsuji and the Kudo clan's main base of operations. Surrounding the Sole town is a vast area of trees.

After their side trip, Kaede suggested that they eat first. He reasoned that he is starving to death, which the girls complimented as overacting. But, they too are hungry, so it can't be helped. They ate in a restaurant. It just so happened that the three are regular customers there and the owner is a close friend of theirs. Since they just came back, they had eaten an All-You-Can-Eat buffet for free. They were all delighted, and grateful. Kaede eats like Natsu of Fairy Tail, Lenalee eats with proper etiquette while Taiyoura seems to be on a diet, for Kaede. He observes her while he eats. The Amaterasu wizard would often steal a glance at his friend only to see her eating the same thing.

"Oi, Taiyoura," he said, catching her attention. "Aren't you hungry? You're only eating one sandwich. Not to mention, every time I stare at you it's still there. Since when did you became a slow eater when it comes to bread?"

"What are you talking about?" Taiyoura ask with an arched eyebrow. "This is my 19th sandwich already, haven't you notice?"

"Ah.. Is that so.. Okay," he looked back at his food.

They finished their meal, thanked the owner many times, and bid goodbye for now.

All there went straight back to their clans. But before they could reach their destination, they have to walk their way there. It's not that far from town. The three consumed almost 12 minutes for the walk. To use the almost 12 minutes, Taiyoura discussed her suggestion for their surprise for everyone in the clan. Kaede agreed to it but changed some points. Lenalee did too.

They've finally reached the end of the forest. Right in front of them is a school building in U-shape. Yellow painted walls and an orange roof. On the sides are two smaller square buildings. Surrounding the buildings are several tall green trees. In front of the school is a wide area of green grass.

Kaede breathed the scent of home and said, "We're finally back."

"After a year of wondering off campus," Lenalee added. "Wonder how much the people changed since then."

"Well, since we're already here, shall we put our surprise plan into action.. tonight?" Taiyoura mischievously smirked.

"It's going to be interesting~! We're not called 'The Mischief Three' for nothing though."

"Shall I gather the required props then?"

"I'm glad that you want to."

...

...

...

Meanwhile, back at Blue Pegasus..

Hibiki and Ren casually chat with a bunch of girls gathered with them on Master Bob's wine stall. Talking about different topics, it appears that both men enjoys their chat.

Just then, the door suddenly opens and Eve runs inside. He immediately rushes to his older teammates. "T-Trouble," he said while panting.

"Huh?" Ren asks. "What's up Eve?"

"The Night Knights.. They left!"

"WHAT?!" both men exclaimed in astonishment.

* * *

**A/N: "School..? Why a school..? And what is the plan of these three playful but troublesome wizards?" Well if you have this kind of questions in your minds, they will be answered by the following chapter around next week.. Guess. **

**Placing that aside, thank you for visiting my story's 18th chapter! And for my viewers, twinSlayer and Lunalistic, thank you for the continuing support. I promise to do my best in every chapter for you two. **

**Please leave a review/comment! If ever there is a point in the story that you don't understand, please PM and don't be shy. I CAN'T bite you. Also if I have wrong grammars, please inform me so that I can edit. I'm not so good in English grammar, XD**

**For a better idea of the school, please visit my profile. A link to the picture will be posted there. Thanks!**

**Enjoy your day~!**

**(UPDATED: Mar. 5, 2013)**


	20. The Mischievous Three

**Chapter 19 - The Mischievous Three**

_Hibiki's POV_

Earlier this morning, Eve told us about the Night Knights' sudden leave. He led us to the Takishima residence where the landlady of the those guys resides. There we met Tsukiko-san, a friend of Master Bob. We were warmly welcomed into her comfy home. In her living room, she explained exactly what happened last night. Taiyoura and the others woke her up to pay for their rent then quickly left heading to the train station.

I wonder, was I caught last night? I told Jenny about their histories, forgetting that Taiyoura won't be pleased by it. But.. If I were caught, that wouldn't be enough reason to leave without saying anything. Even to Master, they didn't said anything about it. ...

While the others that are gathered in the living room talk about the current situation, I felt something in my chest. Like it just, I don't know, popped up? I touched my chest. Then titled my head, looking at the floor. This must be anxiousness, huh..

"Oi, Hibiki, snap out of it!" Ren snapped his fingers in front of my eyes.

"Huh, what?" I asked, getting my focus on my tan friend.

"We're asking you if you know where on Earth are those guys' clans are located. If possible, we want to gain contact with them and talk for a while."

"Ugh.. well. I have read about it once and unfortunately, no one can go either to the Tsuji clan or the Kudo clan without the permission of the headmasters. So even if we know where it is, we can't meet up with them personally."

"But, where is it exactly?"

"It's on Sole town. An 8-hour travel from here to there."

Everyone went silent. It's probably right to say that they're thinking with their expressions on their faces. Well I should join them.

Then suddenly, Eve exclaimed something, "Ah, that's right!"

"What's right?" I asked him, puzzled.

"In the request board, I think I saw a mission heading to Sole town the other day. We might be able to have a reason to be there."

"But even if we would have a reason to be there, it would just be another work for us to handle. And just like you said, you saw it the other day. It's possible that it was taken and is in the progress already," Ren states his negative view.

"Just saying.." Eve becomes quiet again.

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Everyone, including me of course, was surprise to hear it.

"Yes, coming," Tsukiko-san headed for the door.

I heard the door opening and a female voice talking to the landlady.

Then after a few moments, Jenny walked in the living room bringing with her a piece of request sheet. "I heard you guys talking about Sole town and having a reason to get there. Luckily, I haven't answered this one yet," she unroll the paper and showed to us the mission.

**Wanted dance instructor for a prom!  
****As many as possible. Can either be MALE or FEMALE.  
****Has long patience, polite, and knows how to handle a group of students.  
Will be teaching for 2 weeks.  
Reward: 250,000 jewels/person  
Be at SOLE TOWN around 3:00 pm - 8:00 pm (Anyday)**

"Since you guys need it, I guess I could tag along with you, no?"

"No problem with me," I said. To be honest I don't mind a girl tagging along with us but as long as she doesn't get to.. bothersome to our job. But at this situation, everyone will benefit anyway.

"Just like I said, even if we have a reason to be in Sole town, accepting a mission would be bothersome. Especially that-" Ren was cut.

"I heard about this Eri Tsuji person from Hibiki. And you know what? She's the client for this job."

...

...

...

_Lenalee's POV_

As quietly as we could, we walk our way to the headmistress' office.

There are 3 parts of the school's main building. On the right wing, it's the girls' area. Where only female students are allowed inside. No guy should go there unless there is permission from the headmasters. On the other hand, on the left wing is the area for the guys. Same thing; girls are not allowed to be in the left wing unless they have permission from the headmasters. There are two floors in the building. For the left and right wing, lowercase, consists of training rooms. Like for example; Science Laboratory, Home Economics room, Arts room and Music room. Each wing has equal numbers of rooms in the lowercase. Same goes for the uppercase that consist mostly of classrooms and a single library each wing. Both the wings are only for knowledge and activities normal humans can do everyday. But for the center area, it consists of rooms specialized for wizards of different magic. Usually the rooms are big enough for 10 to 15 students to use. But there are 3 rooms that doesn't have to do with magic enhancement; the faculty and the headmasters' rooms. And these three rooms are only found in the uppercase of the center area.

And right now, we're in the hall way of the center area, carefully heading to the headmistress' office.

I think this should be further explained. We're on the uppercase. The placement of the headmasters' offices are just across each other. The headmistress on the front area and the headmaster on the back area. To help you imagine it, think of a square. In the north, the headmaster's room, in the south, the headmistress' room. And in the east and west part are training rooms.

(**A/N: It's really hard to describe things like these x(!**)

Taiyoura pushes the big door open. As soon as it was widely opened, the shinning light of the sun blinded the three of us. We blocked the lights' warm shine by placing our hands on our forehead then covered our eyes.

We took a step forward carefully, step-by-step. Finally, securing that we're inside, Taiyoura closed the door gently. The door made noise while it was closing.

"I've been waiting for you," the headmistress, said with a smile.

"It's nice to meet you again, Eri-san, but can you cover the windows please. We can't see anything with our hands blocking our eyes for protection from the sun," I requested politely.

In an instant, the tall windows were covered by violet curtains. Then we removed our hands from our sight.

There she is, wearing a white business attire, hair tied in a bun and with a pair of eyeglasses. Eri Tsuji, founder of the Tsuji clan.

"Long time no see, M3," she greeted us with her warm smile.

Taiyoura and I couldn't stop it. It's been a year since we saw each other personally and.. We're just so happy to see her again! We burst into tears and ran to our headmistress saying, "MOTHER~!"

Okay this one should be explained. A lot of girls, and several boys, call the headmistress "mother" because she was always the one who was there are us in our times of need in guidance. She treats us calmly and kindly, and she doesn't just scold us angrily if what we did was totally wrong. And, the most important part, even if we would lose a friend, headmistress Eri would always be the one to be there for us and become not just our mother but also our friend.

"You too are always so childish," headmistress Eri giggled. "Well good, aren't we now Kaede-kun?"

"Yo, mother~" Kaede responded to her greeting in his own cool way. "As always I'm cool."

"As always, you say? I can't argue with that, now can I? By the way, children, did you prepare something for your friends here?"

"Huh?" I asked, looking at her blue eyes. "What do you mean?"

"You mean you haven't? That's too bad. I was expecting the Mischievous Three of the clans to have ready something for the others. Guess there is nothing, huh."

"Of course we have one!" Taiyoura told Mother Eri with desperate eyes.

"Ah le le~ So, let me hear it."

The three of us smirked. "_This is going be fun~_" I thought.

Actually, the three of us visited Mother Eri first because we know that she'd support us in our group activity; just like our homecoming prank. She also has her playful side too.

So, we ended up explaining our plan. We planned that by later evening, while the others are going to have their fine-dinning meal at the ballroom, we'll go and attack their dorms, taking only one thing from each students' property. The three of us would stay in the custody of a close friend of ours in town. And, by morning, we'd go back here and make an appearance. We expect SOME friends of ours would be shock and all but we also expect that most of them would be panicking from losing their things. A little after we've arrived, our headmistress would announce to everyone a way on how to gain their things back. They'd have to answer a riddle and if they get correct, they would get their "thing-napped" objects. Each student would have to consult the headmistress one by one to avoid cheating. But we haven't thought of a better way of not making them cheat. Because the riddle would be the same, it'd be easy to spread the answer.

The main school building is U-shaped. And between the wings, behind the center area, is a small building for the ballroom. Here we practice prom dancing and fine dinning.

"Interesting~ I like that," Mother Eri told us. "But, the cheating part is what I'm concerned about. There is a high chance that a student would spread the answer and it wouldn't be as you want it to be."

"We know but, what would be a better idea?" Kaede asked the headmistress for a suggestion.

"Well, how about we change that? Like somewhat of a test."

"Like what for instance?" Taiyoura arched an eyebrow.

"Let's see. How about a test about 'friendship'. For example like this; they would have to give their roommate's most important belonging to swap for their things. But the catch here is that their friend mustn't know that they took their belonging. It would really show who are, you know.."

"That's a nice idea!" I remarked. "But.. if some does that, when will their friend get their things back again?"

"You guys would return it to them secretly. As the mastermind for this activity, I guess it's right for you to do that, no?"

"Hmm.. Fine by us. We'll go with that."

"Great. I'll do some adjustments their schedules so that no one would really see you later. Oh yes, you have to consult Mao about this. The Kudo clan is involve in the game."

"We'll be sure to tell him and ask his positive answer," Kaede assured her. "Don't worry."

"Then we shall take our leave now, mother," Taiyoura slightly bowed before her as a sign of respect.

"Wait, Taiyoura. Stay. We need to discuss something. It's about Toki-kun."

My friend paused in silence. And I know why..

She turned to us and said, "You guys go ahead. I'll catch up with you later, I promise."

"I'd be expecting that," I crossed my arms before turning around and giving them some privacy.

Kaede gently closed the door behind me and whispered, "Toki.. huh?"

_Taiyoura's POV_

I sat in front of Mother Eri's table, nervously. She said she wanted to talk about Toki and when it comes to that guy, I'd always feel nervous and awkward around him.. He is after all, my crush since 2 years ago.

"You know very well on how people changes after a huge span of time, right?" she asked me carefully.

"Y-Yeah," I answered nervously.

This conversation is giving me a very nervous feeling. I'm getting the feeling that I'm about to hear something not pleasing to my ears.

"And you guys left this place for a year. Meaning to say, you lost a lot of time to making him fall for you."

"I understand.."

"Taiyoura, um, I don't know how to explain this but please don't be sad. I'm not going to blame you that you choose a year freedom from this place, okay? I just want to let you know that Toki had a talk with Mao and confessed.."

"Confess." That one word gave me two feelings that made a big impact on me; nervousness and excitement. What if Toki fell in love with another girl? I-It'd really be..! But also, I had this sudden hope that it would be me but I know to myself that there is just a very small amount that is true.

"... That he is in love with Luna."

* * *

**A/N: So tired~! It's tiring to describe something that is imaginable and has the same thought as the author. Ahai.. Well anyway, it's worth it.**

**I've wanted to make something like this! I read a lot of stories that has POVs and I kinda like it so.. yeah. Hope it doesn't bother you. **

**And! Trivia: Eri Tsuji is inspired from Eri Kisaki from Detective Conan and Toki is from Toki Fujiwara of Code:Breaker~ You can search for them if you want to know what they actually look like. **

**(Updated: March 10,2013) **


	21. Emotional Taiyoura

**~Chapter 20 - Emotional Taiyoura~**

_Kaede's POV_

_SIGH.. _Just how long is Taiyoura going to lock herself up inside that room?! She has been sulking for hours already! Is that how crazy she is over Toki? Women these days..

It's already 12:13 pm. The sun is out and shinning brightly making everything warm, including this cabin we're in. And I'm fanning myself with a cardboard I found laying down on the floor when we got here. Luckily, Taiyoura went straight for the bedroom and didn't even bothered about the weather, so I got to cool down a bit! Bwahahaha!

... How cruel of me..

But anyway, this cabin is just miles away from the clans. It was built to secrecy from the almost all of us. Only selected ones know about this place. But more than 50% of those who know have already left. As in left, not left like how the three of us left. Like PERMANENTLY left both clans to find their own "destiny" something.

Placing that aside now, this place has 4 main parts namely; the kitchen which includes the dinning area, bedroom along with the shower, attic, and the living room. A rectangle divided into 3 parts, equally. In the front portion is a sliding door (the headmasters want to fit in the modern) and 2 sliding windows at the side of it. A staircase and a veranda. A chimney is installed in the kitchen. Plus this baby has blue roof!

Earlier, Lenalee went to town to buy us some lunch. Heh, I'm actually expecting that she'd take a long time buying because she wants to buy "the best" meal in town. Ah~ This is an advantage for me. Having someone like her with me.. But I do wish that she'd change her habit of taking too much time in just buying food to bring home. I'M STARVING HERE!

_Lenalee's POV_

With every move I make is equals to noise of this plastic bag I'm holding on my right hand.

"Ah, it's so hot!" I complained to myself. "The weather today sure is killing me. It's not like this happens everyday.." _SIGH_.

I wonder if.. Taiyoura is still in that small room, emoting. And for crying out loud, she's the 126th girl who fell for his charm! Is that guy so charming that.. UGH! In fact, I don't like that guy. He is using his "handsomeness" to attract girls from our clan and then receive a lot of chocolates on Valentines Day. If he really loves chocolates that much, why won't he come to town and buy a thousand of it! AND another thing that I hate about Taiyoura falling for that guy is that she's in big trouble! Toki has a lot of female fans of different attitudes. I'm worried that one day, Mr. I Wanna Punch would catch the attention of rebellious women outside. There's going to be a fight, for sure!

I'm not a worry-wart, that much. I just care. Care about my friends' well-being and what's good for them. And it's not good for Taiyoura to continue falling for that brat. It would be better if she falls for another man with a better attitude. Or if this guy is famous because of this and that, at least, he wouldn't be a flirt..

If she is still in that room, well, I have to straighten up her mind whether she likes it or not!

To avoid going through the clan, I would have to take the long cut. It's going to be far so I'd have to rent a magic motorcycle going there. The long cut going to the cabin is connected to the road heading for the clans. Just before reaching the buildings, there is another path. A curve at the right side. It leads to the cabin where those two are waiting for their meal, which I am bringing and I need to hurry up a bit. Kaede must be hungry by now.

That idiot..

...

Lenalee made a short visit at a rental store. She was assisted by an elder man around his 50s to choose for a good magic motorcycle out of all the ones available. After finally picking one, Lenalee paid for the rent and politely bid farewell. Then she left town going to the cabin.

The deep bluenette drove to the cabin using the path. She parked the motorcycle at the side of the building and got off. She then jogged her way up to the veranda and slid the door open.

To her surprise, as soon as she stepped in, Kaede hugged her from the side saying, "Why are you late~?" is a cute voice.

"Ah, sorry for that," she apologized. "I lost track of time."

"Hmhm. Next time, I'll buy you a watch so that you won't forget people are waiting for you," he wiggled his but like a dog.

"Right, right, now would you stop doing that? It's kinda.. you know. No longer cute when you act like that."

Kaede then quickly let go and changed back to himself mode, much to Lenalee's delight.

"By the way, is she still there?" she asked while walking to the dinning table.

"Wanna play guess? The answer starts with a Y and ends with an S."

"Yes.."

"Uh-huh."

...

_Lenalee's POV_

I sighed in grief. Alright now I'm desperate! This can't go on forever! Taiyoura has to think it over and stop crying over that Toki guy!

Walking to the bedroom, I clenched my hands into fists due to anger and irritation.

I opened the door and yelled, "Taiyoura you-!"

No one was there.. Only 3 futons and.. a piece of paper laying on her futon?

"Oh! She must have escaped earlier while you were gone," Kaede peeked at room.

"Why didn't you noticed anything?" I cried.

"Hey chill down, Lenalee. Taiyoura must have predicted this to happen and left without a word. But don't you think she needs a time for herself to think?"

I calmed down slowly. He is right. Taiyoura needs her time alone for now. And she's old enough to be alone. Not to mention that she is a strong wizard, meaning she wouldn't be harmed easily. I just.. hope she'd be able to think properly. In a brokenhearted state of mind that she is now, it's going to be tough.

That emotional woman..!

_Taiyoura's POV_

I looked outside and stared at nature. It's beautiful and calm filled with different living organisms.

_SIGH_

I'm currently boarding a train to a town holding a festival. It only takes and hour to travel from Sole town to there. And it's going to be worth it.

But I'm positive that it would start later evening. Maybe I could do a little sightseeing before it even starts. Or if I'm lucky, I'd go watch a play at the theatre. Any activity that could kill time would do. If there wouldn't be anything interesting to do then I hope there is a meadow there.

No wait. That's right, it's Hargeon. It's not an hour but 2 hours.

Well, I can't do anything about that.

I'm wearing a sleeveless denim dress and a pair of blue sandals with heels. If you're to ask Lenalee and Kaede, they'd say I'm not usually seen wearing this kind of attire. I don't know why but I just feel like wearing it. My dress reaches my knees. It's simply plain and has a matching belt. No pockets, buttons and collar but it's circle neck. I also have one of Lenalee's voice lacrima necklaces in case the situation needs it.

You might be wondering how I escaped, no? There's a window installed in the room. I used that in my escape. Then I was sure that Lenalee would use the long cut at the right so I took the left side since there are two long cuts to the cabin from town. Luckily, I arrived town just when Lenalee left. I took the opportunity and rode the train to Hargeon.

The shock about Toki falling for Luna really affected me. Took a while before I thought of leaving quietly.

But I wonder, what did Toki saw in Luna that he liked her? Is it because she's the.. Never mind.

In anyway, I must respect him. Well it's not like I can order his heart to change quickly, like in an instant. "A heart is not a remote controlled toy that one can play with." A motto I from a book I once read about. This situation would prove that the quote is true. Really true.. Though it hurts.

Maybe the festival can help me. Letting this pain slowly fade and officially accept his feelings. That's right! I could spend some time alone and think about things like this and that. And while thinking, I might not notice that I've actually..

It's not that easy.

* * *

**A/N: WWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAHHHH! So sorry for making you wait for 15 days just to get to read a new chapter, which is, not to mention, a bit crappy. **

**I'm a graduating pupil so I had a lot of things to problem about and then I forgot about writing a new chapter. And then I got into a new fandom which is SuJu. It's not anime but a boy band. After a little while I lost inspiration and run out of ideas. I'm really sorry for the delay. **

**Next time I'd write a better chapter than this, PROMISE! **

**Please look forward for the incoming chapters because something is going to happen while Taiyoura visits Hargeon. =)**

**(Updated: March 25, 2013)**


	22. The Spark of Determination (Part 1)

**Chapter 21 - The Spark of Determination (Part 1)**

_Hibiki's POV_

"Ugh.. ugh.." I moaned. I slowly opened my eyes. I see Ren sleeping with Eve's head resting on his left shoulder. It's nice seeing them like that so I let off a smile.

Then I just noticed. Something is heavy on my right shoulder. I looked at it and then found Jenny sleeping on it..!

Honestly, I slightly blushed.

This happened before but that way back then when.. A little later after Karen's death. The day that she comforted me in my needs of comfort from someone. Eventually it was Jenny who always tried to cheer me up everyday, besides my teammates.

Jenny's a kind girl actually. I know many people sees her as sometimes seductive, overacting, Drama Queen and many more negative attributes the crowd would say about her. But if they get to know her more, I'm sure, men from different places would fall for her quickly. Like in an instant! Jenny's going to be a good girlfriend and to the guy that she would like, he's lucky that such a beauty fell for him.

I looked outside the window next to me only to see trees. Looks like we're passing by the forest already.

The wind was passing by carrying the scent of fresh fruits. It made me think, "So there are fruit-bearing trees around.." And judging from the smell, I have a theory it's apples. The trees must be bearing apples then.

Suddenly, it hit me. I don't know why but I suddenly saw flashing pictures of a girl crying. After a few moments, I realized it was Taiyoura's crying face back when she was still a kid.. That was the face I saw when I researched about her past. And the reason why she doesn't want anyone to know about it.

_-FLASHBACK-_

I was sitting on my chair inside my condo unit where I stay. In the living room, I was busy studying the information I gathered from our research.

Finished with Lenalee, so I went to the last person which is Taiyoura. I read her history and pitied her.

_"Witnessing the fire devouring the other houses, the little Taiyoura ran back to her home. But it was unexpected that she'd witness her family being mascaraed by 3 men with axes. There were so much blood. And due to that experience, she had a trauma. Whenever she would see blood, she'd remember every single detail about their family's death and two things may occur: she would hold her head and go a little dramatic over it or.. the worst is that she'd go unconscious and attack anything or anyone close her. _

_It was seen by the headmaster themselves when Taiyoura was in her class dissecting a frog. And it was very deadly. Taiyoura's friends got seriously injured and some barely escaped death."  
_

That was written on my screen. And then I read a bit more about it.

_"She doesn't want to talk anything about her past because she'd afraid that it hit her again. Also, she doesn't want anyone to find out about it because they might talk about it behind her back and.." _

It was cut right there.

_-END OF FLASHBACK-_

I really pity her. Having to shoulder that much is very painful.. Literally.

_Taiyoura's POV_

A few more minutes, I would arrive at Hargeon.

While waiting, I guess I can take a very short nap. Anyway, Hargeon is this train's last stop for today. They'd yell out when we're there.

Slowly, I leaned on the window which is right next to my seat. Took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

_Flickering fire. Screams of men and women. Crying children. I was right there standing, witnessing the tragedy that finished the small little town my family and I were living in. It's coming back.._

I quickly opened my eyes, panting. Everything that happened to me, 14 years ago is.. entering my brain again. It's scary. What I saw that time was scary.

I looked down at the floor with fear in my eyes. I don't want to be in that state again..! My unconscious state that almost killed my friends and Lilian, my very first friend back at the clans. And being in public like this is very risky. Without Lenalee or Kaede present, who knows how much pain and damage I might cause if I'd go wild.

"Miss?" a friendly voice suddenly called out, softly. "Are you alright?"

I looked up only to see a blonde haired guy. He is wearing an open blue leather jacket, revealing his plain black shirt. He has a pair of black half gloves on both his hands. Straight denim pants and black shoes.

"You seem pale, is everything alright?" he asked me again. His voice sounds so gentle. And.. lovely. I don't know why but it feels like I've met him somewhere before. Somehow..

For a moment, I was silent while looking into his black eyes. Realizing that he asked me another question, I shook my head getting back to being mentally present. "P-Pardon?" I asked.

"I was just asking if you're sick or something. From my seat, I heard you panting," the stranger explained.

"Oh.. That. It's nothing," to stop making someone I do not know worry about me, I gave him a fake smile.

I heard him let out a "hmph" sound. "I don't think so. Just in case something might happen to you, I think it would be best if I seat here."

"You don't have to, please. I'm perfectly fine."

"I insist. Please let me watch over you for a while." He sat at the seat just across me.

Odd.. Why is he desperate to watch over a stranger like me? We just met! I have to be cautious around him. He could be planning something sneaky. Must keep my senses sharp!

"I understand that you find me suspicious miss," he crossed his legs. "But trust me, I won't harm you. I'm not the guy who would attack someone so suddenly."

"Oh really?" I answered. "I think I can't trust you much. You've already proven yourself suspicious because you used your magic to read my mind. Perhaps you were trying to get information about me, weren't you?"  
He showed a startled expression but then calmed down. "I understand.. Anyway, I would like to introduce myself. I'm Drex."

Drex? "I'm Euphilia. You know, I must say, you have the same name as someone I know."

"Oh~? Is that so? And who might that be?"

"A famous singer. One of 13 guys. But I just know his name. Not his face though.."

He nodded. Drex is showing signs of attentively listening to me. He should know that my suspicion of him being a bad guy is raising.

Afterwards, Drex and I found ourselves talking comfortably. I found out that he is 21 and single. He knows how to play an electric guitar too. Of course to fair he asked me about my age, status, what I'm good at and what magic I use. At first I hesitated to say anything about myself but he asked me again and again. I was a bit annoyed so I gave in and honestly said, "20. Single. I know how to use the flute and I am the 1st Generation Thunder Dragon Slayer." He complimented how honored he is to meet me. Hehe.. He fluttered me. No one ever told me that before. But I am a humble person so I told him that I'm not famous or anything. "But you are a DRAGON SLAYER. It's a lost magic. One can rarely.. No, it's really rare to meet a dragon slayer nowadays..."

When the train got to Hargeon, Drex offered me his company while waiting for the festival. It just so happened that we have the same reason to be present here. So we took a stroll around town. As we pass by the people, we witnessed how everyone was so busy setting up their stalls in the street. Some were placing last touches, just started, and those who are still in the middle of preparations.

We continued chit chatting as we pass by a flower stall. To our surprise, a little girl ran up to us and said, "Would you like an Iris, miss? It's really a pretty flower." I smiled at her and happily accepted her generosity. Before she left, Drex whispered something to her and then excitedly ran off back to her mother who is waiting for her.

"What did you told her?" I asked curiously.

"I noticed some flowers that my best friend's girl liked at their stall. I figured I could give him a hand since today is their 1st year anniversary," he detailed me.

"Let me guess, this friend of yours is really precious to you."

"Of course he is! He is my best friend after all. You wouldn't call someone you're best friend if that person is not precious to you, would you?"

"You have a point."

Resuming our walk, Drex suggested that we stop and have a short break for a while. He told me about a maid café that serves tasty and cute bread. Before giving him my answer, I asked if they sell sandwiches.

"Yup, they do alright. Even blueberry cakes. Whenever my pals and I visit this place, we wouldn't leave unless we visit that café. We made friends with the workers there too."

Drex led me to the maid café. On a big signboard, it was written, "Sula's Maid Cafe." There are several white tables outside the building. There were windows with plants under them. The walls are colored orange and the roof is white. A pretty cafe.

"Say, how about we divide the work into 2? You choose a table while I buy our snacks. My treat."

WAIT~! Wait a moment. "Seriously?!" I looked at him with a completely surprised look. Let me repeat things. We just met and yet this guy is all kind and generous around me. What could be his plot?

He nodded, "Really. My treat. Name it."

"Wait, wait, Drex, listen. We just met. You don't have to be so generous with me. I can handle myself."

"I don't see any pockets where you can put your money in."

"That's because I planned to window shop instead of buying things."

"You'd get hungry you know. .. Just don't argue and get us a table. I'll just pick out things for you then." Drex ran off to the cafe and what do you expect? Guess he is starting to order stuff already.

I sighed. With that kind of attitude, he can easily make friends but a lot of evil people may take advantage him.. He should be careful. Really.

Well since that guy already did his thing, might as well do as he said. I scanned the outside for a while and selected a table at a corner. So I walked towards the table and sat down.

While waiting, I was happily humming. Humming the tune of one of my favorite songs HARU by Super Junior..

"Sonoko might not come, Anton. You know she doesn't like this idea.."

"She has to come, idiot! We are doing this for her and her sake alone! We came to this place because today is the only day we could _kill _that bastard!"

Upon hearing the word _kill_, I quickly stood up. Fear filled my eyes as I stare at the men who are sitting at the other table.

"Hey, you! You heard that didn't you?!"

I shook my head in fear. But I know I heard it! I heard their plan of wanting to kill someone! Without thinking clearly, I ran off the place wanting to escape with the information I have.

_Lenalees POV_

I gasp. Something is.. wrong.

"Kaede," I called for the only person besides me inside this cabin. "I have a bad feeling about Taiyoura.."

* * *

**A/N: Ya~ I really lost inspiration. For days, I planned to write this one but I got really lazy and the fact the Fairy Tail anime was on hold made things worse. **

**But anyways! I DID IT! I FINISHED THIS ONE! WOHOOOO~! ... Ok enough celebrating. **

**I just want to share something to everyone. The name Drex is from my friend's nickname. His real name is Andre but we call him Drex because of his username in a game. XD **

**AND! Lastly! I want to spread the SuJu fandom! They have great songs guys. Try listening to 2 - 5 songs, you'll see how epic their voices are! If you want a suggestion, here is one.. HARU by SuJu or for long Super Junior. There is this Japanese song I know, Snow White, that they also sang. Believe me, it's nice to fangirl about them because they're also SO FUNNY! XD XD XD**


	23. The Spark of Determination (Part 2)

**Chapter 22 - The Spark of Determination (Part 2)**

_Taiyoura's POV_

"Ugh.." I groaned. "Wha-What happened?" While gently rubbing my head, I try to remember what had happened to me because I don't seem to remember anything.

_SIGH_

But before I could recall the events, a new question popped out of my head, "Where EXACTLY am I right now?" All I can is pitch black everywhere I look. I couldn't see anything clearly. So what I did was stare at something for a period of seconds or minutes to I can see a bit of it. Chairs, a table, and.. lockers? Am I in a locker room? Oh please don't tell me that it's the men's locker room because I'll totally freak out.

"Hmmm," I began humming to myself. "Locker room? Am I in a.. gym?" The first place that would hit anyone when "locker room" is mentioned is gym because of obvious an reason: there are at least two locker rooms in a gym! And no one can blame me if my guess is wrong. That's why it's called "guess". Not so sure of the answer.

I gasp..!

_FLASHBACK_

I continue panting while running for safety.

Those men.. are planning to murder someone! And this Sonoko person. Could it be that she is being forced to be in their plan? They did say something about she has to come.

Oh goodness, Drex please forgive me for this one!

Wait.. Is that? An aisle! I increased my speed a little and the reached the aisle, sandwiched between two houses.

I leaned on the wall as I pant heavily. I'm extremely exhausted from all the running I did. For a minute and few seconds, I rested.

I was about to contact Lenalee but surprisingly those men had me cornered!

"Hey you!" called the bald-headed one. He is muscular built and has a scary looking face. Wearing a red shirt, pants with belt and black shoes. This guy is a lot taller than I am. "You heard us, didn't you?"

At this point, I wasn't thinking clearly but I shook my head in fear!

"A-Anton, let's not do this. Okay?" pleaded the other guy. Compared to the first man, named Anton, this guy is a bit chubby and coward looking. He has a pair of eyeglasses. Wavy blue hair and a hairy arm. He is equipped with a white leather jacket, pants and blue shoes.

"Are you an idiot?! If we'd let this woman get away with what she heard, we'll be in serious trouble! And besides, she has already seen our faces clearly. I'm sure she's going to report to the authorities about that she knows."

"B-But, his orders.."

"We'll get down to that later," Anton punched his left palm with his right hand in a fist. He is ready for battle.

I too get ready for battle. Slowly calming myself down, mentally. But! Someone hit my head with something from behind! Something heavy and.. long? My body fell to the ground. Little by little, I lost consciousness.

_END OF FLASHBACK_

..! I remember now! Those guys.. Were really serious about their scheme. But they're not alone. I heard another voice behind me meaning they are at least 3 people that are in the plan.

I need to contact Lenalee as in NOW! Trying to find my voice lacrima that I believe is hanging on my neck, I touch my neck several times. Front, sides and back. None. I didn't touch anything. Don't tell me.. I LOST IT?!

Meanwhile.. While the dragon slayer is busy panicking about her lost lacrima, a young fellow is doing his best to locate her.

_Drex's POV_

"Found anything yet, Keh?" I asked the celestial dog ahead of me.

With a cold glare, Keh stares at me. "Drex Vincent Lee," he started. "Can you wait for results? I'll update you when I pick-up something useful to find that woman of yours."

"She is not my woman..!"

"Oh yeah? Then how come you'd treat her for a cute-romantic snack time, huh?"

"I was trying to be nice. That's all."

"Tch. Such a liar indeed."

"Can you continue now? The more we waste time, the more impatient I get."

"I will if you'd stop asking for news every 2 - 5 minutes!"

I start twitching my eyebrows. As if he'd say something to update me! This dog, whenever he knows I need him, he'd be acting all high and mighty! And let me remind him that he doesn't tells my anything unless I ask him. _SIGH_..

My full name is Drex Vincent Lee. A Celestial Wizard and Shadow magic user. 21-years-old. I own quite a number of silver keys. I know how to play the electric guitar and several more instruments. Euphilia doesn't know this but I'm actually a singer and I sing along with 12 + 2 guys.

Keh, here, is one of my spirits. An Alaskan Malamute dog. He is in his animal form right now. Originally, Keh has two forms: his human and animal forms. In his human form, he is useful in battle but his sense of smell is weaker than his animal form. I usually summon him during battles but this time I need him in that form.

Keh sniffs the ground and then the air. After sniffing, he stared at the front.

"Hmm? Is something wrong?" I asked him. With actions are beginning to get strange.

"Something is.." he responded. "I sense her scent is heading over there." With his paw, he sort of pointed ahead.

I followed where his paw was pointing at. To my disappointment, it's not exactly what I had in mind, "Ugh.. Keh. That's more buildings."

My celestial spirit took me from the café to this place earlier. An empty road in the middle of houses in different sizes. The houses are soo close to each other. I wouldn't be surprised if a crime is often committed here and that it's only the victim's neighbor who did it. Not to mention if you'd look from left to right, or vice versa, you'd see houses. Mostly.

Anyway this guy is still pointing at where he exactly pointed. And I'm not getting what he is trying to tell me.

"Ugh..?"

"Vincent, you better follow me," he ordered me.

"Lead the way my friend."

"I'm glad you said so." He started barking and ran ahead. Just like what I said, I followed him.

After all the running we did, we ended up in a narrow aisle just between two houses.

While panting, I ask him, "So.. What's.. Here?"

Keh didn't answer me. Instead he walked forward and sniffed the ground again.

"Don't tell me we have to go further."

"Hey!" he cried. "Does that woman wear anything like a necklace or something like that?"

"Huh? Why you'd ask?"

"Answer me already. Did you notice or not?"

"Well sort of. It was a voice lacrima."

"So I guess this is hers then," he turned around and showed me a voice lacrima which he is biting between his sharp teeth.

"Hey don't bite that! You might damage it."

"I'm biting it gently, Vincent! Now get it or else I'll break it into pieces."

I quickly took the lacrima from his mouth. For a moment, I examined the object and recalled what I saw from Euphilia. Guess this is hers then.

Keh suddenly continued sniffing the air again. "Hey, Vincent."

"What is it this time?"

"She was ambushed here. That woman we're looking for."

"Really?!" Ambushed? For what reason?

"Yeah. I can see it.."

"Tell me more."

He paused for a while. My celestial spirit friend closed his eyes then opened it with a different eye color, "3 humans. 2 men and 1 female. She was hit with a wood from behind her head and fainted here."

"I got a bad feeling about this.."

"Tch. Who wouldn't?"

I should explain this one. Keh, in his animal form, doesn't only have a keen sense of smell but he can see the past event the recently happened in a particular place if he wills it. Just like now he saw what had occurred in this narrow aisle. His blue eyes would turn green if he is trying to visualize. But this specialty of his has limitations. For example, if an event happened after another, he'd see only the latest. He wouldn't be able to see the first one that occurred.

But the fact that he saw Euphilia being ambushed here, gets me worried even more. What could be the reason she was ambushed? And most importantly, where is she taken to?

"Keh, can we try to go back to the café? You might be able to see why she ran off and we may find a clue to why she was ambushed here."

He stares at me with a blank expression. "Do you remember.. We left the café and that's an event. He we'd go back there, I'd only see that."

"Oh yeah.." I was feeling hopeless. Ah, what should we do? I'm mentally panicking here..!

With a smirk on his face, the dog told me, "Why don't we track them down? The culprits I meant."

A spark of hope lit my face but then immediately vanished. "How are you going to do that? We don't have anything that has their scent in it. You sniffed the table to find Euphilia."

"Oh ho, you don't dare underestimate me buddy.."

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**A/N: So sorry everyone for waiting this long for a new chapter. While this one was on-going, I experienced this known "writer's block." I had soo many things to do outside this site. I hope you forgive me!**

**Anyway please anticipate for the incoming more chapters. Thank you =) (PS: Pls leave a review)**


	24. The Spark of Determination (Part 3)

**Chapter 23 - The Spark of Determination (Part 3)**

_Taiyoura's POV_

I've scanned the small room already, and I only have one more thing to do: bust outta here. Just as expected, the only furnitures here are chairs, a table, and lockers. A door is installed at the left wall from my point of view. And behind me is a small window. I was hoping I can escape through the window but it was too small for my whole body to fit in. But I did get a chance to peep outside. Much to my disappointment, the view couldn't help me locate where I am right now because all I saw was just another wall just across this one. There is an aisle between the walls. I had this plot of breaking out using my magic but I thought twice. As much as possible I don't want to make a noise and leave without being noticed. The next bad news is that they tied my feet together and my hands are tied behind my back. I won't be able move that much right now. "But if I could just do something with my magic," I tried to focus and think of any spell I could use.

"Well, well," a familiar voice opened the door. A blinding light hit my eyes, I couldn't see who is there. But, surely, it's a woman who spoke. "You're awake, huh?"

"Not surprisingly, I am," I answered in an impolite tone.

"Hmph. You must be very confident that you're speaking in such a tone."

"You don't have to say that out loud."

"Well, whatever. Anyway soon it'll be all over. Our plan is already in action. And, you know what's the best part..?"

Her voice sounds so.. seductive. But her words are not that beautiful in my ears. I'm not even anticipating the answer. Self-questioned and self-answered. Heh..

"The whole town will be witnessing the bloodshed of their beloved mayor in a minute or two," she laughed. "Serves him right though. He did do a lot of awful things to us before. We're just getting revenge on the lives he took."

"Tch..!"

"Huh? What's with the reaction? You sound like as if you're-"

"Cut the crap already!" I cried out. "You guys think that taking one's life is right because they did something very horrible in their past?! If that is the way you guys think then shouldn't you kill each other too? I doubt none of you did something terrible in your histories."

She slammed the door shut after I spoke. The room got black again. I heard a _CLICK_ sound and in an instant the light on the ceiling turned on. "_Hey I didn't notice there was a light up there_," I thought in surprise. At least now it wouldn't hurt my eyes already. The lights helped me on having a clear view of who I was talking to. A skinny woman with fair skin. She wears a red leather jacket, mini red shorts and black boots with heels that reached until her knees. Her black hair is short, she has a pair of black round eyes and wears a thick red lipstick. She pulled a chair closest to her and sat on it. "The name is Ruby," she said.

"I didn't ask for it."

"Oh, don't be so rude there little one. You know your time is running fast. I suggest you say you're last words before, you know. Before you Rest in Peace."

"As if I'd go down that easily! Fight me fair and square and you'll see who'll Rest in Peace earlier."

"And how are you going to do that without any magic power left in you?"

Huh?! What does she mean I don't have any magic power left in me?

She started giggling, "You haven't noticed until now? My, my, you're slow. Too slow actually. A friend of mine emptied you out. That was long ago and yet.. Haha, such an idiotic wizard indeed."

I clenched my teeth in anger. She got me in that one. I never noticed that I was out of fuel until she said so. That's another bad news for me. If I don't have any magic power, even if I know how to fight with a hand-to-hand combat, in my situation right now I'm in a big disadvantage.

"What's the matter? You lost your tongue?"

I didn't answer and kept a serious expression on my face.

"You really did lost it.. Oh and by the way, you have a cute boyfriend."

"Huh?!" I arched my eyebrow. What does she mean?

"Aw, you found your tongue again. How nice. Now we can chat a little more."

"What do you mean boyfriend? I don't have any!"

"You don't have to be shy about it. Personally, I'm jealous of you. Having such a guy ready to save you when you're in need. How dramatic."

"Seriously, I got no clue what you're blabbing about."

The woman sighed, "Fine then. It seems like it's the truth anyway. One of our men sighted a guy sticking his nose on the spot where we kidnapped you. And he is with a celestial spirit dog. He looked cute by the way."

"_Oh no, Drex! If he continues to do that, he will surely be in trouble with these guys._" I panicked mentally. I don't want him to get involve into my problem. He has to stop as soon as possible! But what could I do to make him stop? There has to be a way to do it! I just need to think hard and come up with a plan even if I don't have my magic powers.

Suddenly, Ruby started yawning. Is she tired? Well I have a theory why. She stretches are arms and said, "I must take my beauty sleep already. A lady needs her nap. You should too. Oh wait, don't. Anyway you'll be asleep forever so no need." The devilish woman left laughing.

"Okay," I smirked. "My turn now!"

Back at Sole town..

_Toki's POV_

"**Shim shim hae**~!" I yawned. joining a boring class is torture for me. Had to escape to someplace quiet where I can have my afternoon nap time. The cabin is a good idea.

I'm Toki Kudo. One of the hundreds of males in the Kudo clans that was adopted by Mao Kudo, our headmaster. Age is 21 and I'm paired with Taiyoura of the Tsuji clan but is in love with Luna. People can say it that way. They don't know anything about that issue. Completely. Anyway, just so you know, I'm very popular around the ladies, especially back at the clans. Every valentines, I'd receive chocolates from the girls and in exchange I'd fake a smile. Those fools are only after my appearance. They don't care about anything else. Well, that is, except for someone who is so caring about me. She'd do a lot of things for me to be comfortable. But.. I did a horrible thing that I regret everyday. That one thing..!

I'm in my clan uniform right now. A black double-breasted suit over a white shirt closed around the neck by a green necktie, gray slacks and school shoes. The suit has one breast pocket, two more pockets near the waistline, and buttons. At first glance, a person can say that it's a business suit but it's not. It's a clan uniform that looks like a business suit. There is a difference between the two.

I'm about to reach the cabin now.. Just a little more-

"Kaede, hurry up!" a feminine voice cried.

"Alright, I'm coming already, sheesh," a masculine voice answered.

"_Kaede..? The Night Knights are back already? Odd.._" I thought. A few more steps closer and I hid behind a tree. It is Kaede and Lenalee who are talking. From what I can see, they're preparing for departure.

"You shouldn't be slowing down right now. You know that she's in trouble."

"But I still don't trust that information we were given. Taiyoura kidnapped? Tch, please."

"_What?! Taiyoura has been kidnapped?! Impossible!_ _There is no way she could be._"

"We can't be sure, yes, but we don't know. Taiyoura has weaknesses too. It could be also possible that she is in danger and in need of our aid."

"Who knows?"

"Exactly. Who knows what had happened so we need to hurry. It takes 2 hours of travel from here to Hargeon. We have to take the shortcut and increase our speed to get there earlier than 120 minutes."

"But, Lenalee, if Taiyoura is kidnapped, we would need our magic powers. If we speed up, we'd consume it all."

"That's why we're going to take turns. So hurry up, time is running."

"Okay, okay."

Kaede got on the magic motorcycle then followed by Lenalee. He started the engine and drive off to the forest.

I stop hiding from behind the tree and wrote a serious expression on my face. Questions emerged from my head one by one. _Why are they here despite the fact that they could still enjoy a few more days of freedom? Why aren't they reporting back to their respective clans? And most importantly, what's going on? _I narrowed my eyes because I was getting suspicious of their actions.

I sighed, "Well I'll take this opportunity to sneak around then. See what I can find unusual and interesting. They'll be out for at least 4 hours so I have plenty of time to use."

_Kaede's POV_

"_That guy's statement is too suspicious for me,_" I thought. "_That time.." _

_FLASHBACK_

"Eh?!" Lenalee cried from the room. "A-Are you serious?"

I rushed to her side, "Lenalee, what's the matter?"

"Shh! I'm trying to listen!"

"Ugh.." I dropped a sweat. It appears that she is talking to someone at the other end of the voice lacrima.

"Actually, I thought that she left because she had to do some kind of business in town or something. I decided to look for her with the help of a spirit I possess, only to find out that she was kidnapped," a male voice explained.

"Are you sure about that? How did you know?" Lenalee questioned. "And how come Tai- .. Euphilia's voice lacrima is with you?"

"We found it at the spot where she was kidnapped."

"And so," I said. "What's the plan."

"Well I was hoping for your aid since you are her friends."

"That's clear.."

"And well, we're slowly tracking her down. You should come here as soon as possible. I'll detail you the location once we've found it."

_END OF FLASHBACK_

"_No matter what Lenalee says, I still think this is a trap! And if not, she can't blame me if I'm getting cautious." _

"Hey, Kaede," Lenalee said loudly causing me to cut my thoughts. "Concentrate on your driving already. Don't think of negative things."

"Y-You were reading my thoughts, weren't you?!" I cried.

"Put that aside, just keep on eye on the road! Taiyoura's safety is at stake here."

"I'm well aware of that, you don't have to yell at me." I sigh, "_I just hope that what that person said was true. Or else..!_"

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**A/N: Shim shim hae is I'm bored in Korean. XD It's been soo long since I inserted a foreign language in my chapters so I decided to add one here. **

**Anyway... I'm so sorry I did not update this one earlier. I had to brainstorm better ideas. My 1st and 2nd attempts were not so great so I tried doing another one which is this one. Also, I proofread it the next day after I finished it because it was late at night already and I need my sleep. Hope you like it. =D**

**For some visual aids, please visit my profile for links of pictures. **

**Please leave a review after reading. Thank you~! **


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